Nothing Is Explained

Nothing Is
Type:	Live album
Artist:	Sun Ra
Cover:	Nothing Is.jpg
Released:	1970
Recorded:	May 1966
Genre:	Jazz
Length:	39:42 (original release)
Label:	ESP-Disk
Chronology:	Sun Ra
Prev Title:	The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two
Prev Year:	1965
Next Title:	Strange Strings
Next Year:	1966

Nothing Is is a live album by the American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Sun Ra, recorded in 1966 and released on the ESP-Disk label in 1970.^[1] In 2010 ESP-Disk released an expanded 2CD edition, restoring the full concert on disc one and adding part of the second set and some tracks from the sound check on disc two.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Lindsay Planer stated: "Sun Ra and his Arkestra issued only a handful of titles on the groundbreaking indie ESP-Disk label. Each title respectively contains some of their most expressive musical statements to date".^[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Sun Ra

12" Vinyl

Side A:

1. "Dancing Shadows" - 9:50
2. "Imagination" - 1:53
3. "Exotic Forest" - 9:50

Side B:

4. "Sun Ra and His Band from Outer Space" - 1:58
5. "Shadow World" - 13:48
6. "Theme of the Stargazers" - 0:40
7. "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" - 1:42
8. "Next Stop Mars" - 0:38

• Track lengths on cover differ significantly from actual playing times given above.

• This version is also available on CD (without the bonus tracks below) as ZYX-Music / ESP 1045-2.

CD Bonus Tracks

9. "Velvet" - 7:20
10. "Outer Nothingness" - 15:43
11. "We Travel the Spaceways" - 1:30

• Recorded live on tour of New York state colleges in March 1966.

2CD Deluxe Edition

"Disc One" (66/5/18 - first set)

1. "Sun Ra And HIs Band From Outer Space" - 14:02
2. "The Shadow World" - 4:40
3. "Interpolation" - 2:18
4. "The Satellites Are Spinning" - 1:17
5. "Advice To Medics" - 2:50
6. "Velvet" - 8:16
7. "Space Aura" - 10:26
8. "The Exotic Forest" - 9:43
9. "Theme Of The Stargazers" - 1:52
10. "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" - 2:24
11. "Dancing Shadows" - 9:45
12. "Imagination" - 0:40
13. "The Second Stop Is Jupiter" - 1:12
14. "Next Stop Mars" - 0:41

"Disc Two" (66/5/18 - partial second set and sound check)

1. "The Satellites Are Spinning" - 9:08
2. "Velvet" - 7:10
3. "Interplanetary Chaos" - 4:35
4. "Theme Of The Stargazers" - 1:30
5. "The Second Stop Is Jupiter" - 11:16
6. "We Travel The Spaceways" - 1:42
7. "Nothing Is" - 6:13
8. "It Is Eternal" - 12:37
9. "State Street" - 8:21
10. The Exotic Forest" - 4:32

Personnel

• Sun Ra - piano, clavioline
  • Ali Hassan, Teddy Nance - trombone Marshall Allen - alto saxophone, flute, piccolo, oboe
• John Gilmore - tenor saxophone
• Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone, flute
• Robert Cummings - bass clarinet
• James Jacson - flute, log drums
• Ronnie Boykins - bass, tuba
• Clifford Jarvis, Roger Blank, Jimmy Johnson - drum
• Carl S. Malone, Nimrod Hunt - sun horn, gong

Notes and References

1. http://homepage.uab.edu/moudry/disc_b.htm#31. Sun Ra discography
2. Planer, L. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r152627|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic Review] accessed July 20, 2010