Sun Ra, Known for Novelty, Was No Novelty Act

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.

David Byrne was a founding member of the band Talking Heads, one of the seminal bands of the punk, new wave period of the '70s. They recorded eight albums between 1977 and when they stopped playing together in 1988. If you love their music or if you never saw or heard them, this is a great time to watch the 40th anniversary edition of their concert film "Stop Making Sense," which is playing in theaters. It's newly restored with a remastered soundtrack.