Space Is the Place

Considered by many to be a founder of Afrofuturism Sun Ra-aka Herman Blount-was a composer keyboardist bandleader philosopher entrepreneur poet and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn. He recorded over 200 albums with his Arkestra which dressed in Egypto-space costumes played everything from boogie-woogie and swing to fusion and free jazz. John Szwed's <i>Space is the Place</i> is the definitive biography of this musical polymath who was one of the twentieth century's greatest avant-garde artists and intellectuals. Charting the whole of Sun Ra's life and career Szwed outlines how after years in Chicago as a blues and swing band pianist Sun Ra set out in the 1950s to impart his views about the galaxy black people and spiritual matters by performing music with the Arkestra that was as vital and innovative as it was mercurial and confounding. Szwed's readers-whether they are just discovering Sun Ra or are among the legion of poets artists intellectuals and musicians who consider him a spiritual godfather-will find that indeed space is the place.