Sun Ra
began his avant-garde assault upon the music of planet Earth by not being born here. He claimed that he was from Saturn and that he brought with him his Solar Arkestra, a big band/commune/experimental art collective/invading force. Their weapons were instruments called the space gong,
the space harp,
and the intergalactic space organ,
among many others. The Arkestra lived together in a big house and worked together under the leadership of Sun Ra, who produced the...
