| The Magic City | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Sun Ra |
| Cover: | Sun Ra - The Magic City.jpg |
| Recorded: | 1965 |
| Studio: | New York City |
| Genre: | Avant-garde jazz |
| Label: | Saturn, Impulse!, Evidence |
| Producer: | Alton Abraham, Infinity Inc. Jerry Gordon (1993 reissue) |
| Prev Title: | The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One |
| Prev Year: | 1965 |
| Next Title: | The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two |
| Next Year: | 1966 |
The Magic City is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded in two sessions in 1965, the record was released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1966. The record was reissued by Impulse! in 1973, and on compact disc by Evidence in 1993.
The title Magic City refers to Ra's home town of Birmingham, Alabama, and to a large metal sign with the words 'Birmingham, The Magic City' erected in front of the railway station, Birmingham Terminal Station, in 1926 (see http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/01/bjcc_to_use_replica_of_familia.html.) The cover art, by William White (as noted on the back side), directly references the dome of the station. Ra grew up next to the post office and close to the main station, where, "as a child, Sonny could look out the window and see the big sign over the railroad tracks that greeted visitors to The Magic City".[1] John F. Szwed explains:
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings includes the album in its suggested “Core Collection” of essential recordings.
It is notable especially for the title track, on which "the Arkestra's range of feelings and sound is expressed in a design that's simply unprecedented in jazz."[2] While it begins with use of tape echo recalling the experiments on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, the key features quickly emerge: Ra's simultaneous piano and clavioline intertwining with Boykins's bass as the underpinning for new long-forms of group music-making which draw on varying sub-ensembles from the Arkestra through the course of the piece. Lindsay Planer writes:
The Spin Alternative Record Guide wrote that the album title's significance "further muddies [Sun Ra's] myth and throws his most far-reaching and cohesive endeavor into poignant relief."
All songs written by Sun Ra.
Side A:
Side B:
"The Shadow World", "Abstract Eye" and "Abstract 'I'" were recorded live at Olatunji's loft, New York, Spring 1965. "The Magic City" was recorded during rehearsals around 24 September 1965.[3]