Sun Ra

Sun Ra is the leader of the Spirit of Jazz Cosmos Arkestra. The band played a live concert at the WHYY studios as part of a five part radio program, "All That Jazz," hosted by Ann Mint and produced by Mint and Jack McGann. The members of the band are: Sun Ra, Walter Miller, Byard Lancaster, Luqman Ali, Marshall Allen, Stanley Morgan, Michael Ray, Danny Davis, Elo Omoe, Danny Thompson, Ricky Joyce, "Jac" Jacson, Cheryl Banks, and June Tyson.

Sun Ra is the leader of the Spirit of Jazz Cosmos Arkestra. The band played a live concert at the WHYY studios as part of a five part radio program, "All That Jazz," hosted by Ann Mint and produced by Mint and Jack McGann. The members of the band are: Sun Ra, Walter Miller, Byard Lancaster, Luqman Ali, Marshall Allen, Stanley Morgan, Michael Ray, Danny Davis, Elo Omoe, Danny Thompson, Ricky Joyce, "Jac" Jacson, Cheryl Banks, and June Tyson.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead begins a new six-part series we call Avant-Garde Made Easy, highlighting some of the important modern jazz mavericks of the so-called Avant Garde. We begin the series with pianist, composer, and band leader Sun Ra.

John Szwed has written a new biography of Sun Ra, the orchestra leader and piano player who claimed to be from outer space. His new book is "Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra" (Pantheon Books). Szwed is Musser Professor of Anthropology, African American Studies, Music and American Studies at Yale University.

Legendary musician and band-leader Sun Ra died Sunday at the age 79; we pay tribute to his otherworldly brand of jazz with an excerpt from a concert he performed six years ago in Philadelphia