Sun Ra
piano, bandleader
Pianist and bandleader who played at the Jazz Cultural Theater, Barry’s New York club and school; Barry stayed to hear him, praised how ‘in’ he was, and spoke of a special relationship between them.
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- recordings
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- Barry speaking
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What Barry says
Among the acts at the Jazz Cultural Theater, which Barry ran for five years with Larry Ridley and others as a place for classes and weekend shows, Barry names Jaki Byard’s monthly big band and Sun Ra.
Barry usually left once his teaching was done and stayed for nobody’s set, but he stayed for Sun Ra and counts it among the best performances. His point is that Sun Ra was ‘very in’: he was playing Fletcher Henderson.
When Panken teases that Barry is supposed to be conservative, Barry answers with that night: hearing Sun Ra play his Fletcher Henderson made him happy because it took him back to the Paradise Theater in Detroit.
Barry loved the moment when Sun Ra went into his act and played the piano with his back to it, and he agrees with Panken that Sun Ra was a real showman.
Barry once walked into a place where people began to sing a welcome to him by name, to a melody he found beautiful. He says ‘we recorded it’, but he never managed to find the melody again. He calls Sun Ra a special person with whom he had a special relationship.
Barry’s tune ‘Nascimento’ is named after a Brazilian drummer in Sun Ra’s band, a man who spoke no English and beat a tall drum with a mallet; Barry had never heard anyone play that kind of drum. Most people, he says, assume the name honours Milton Nascimento.
In his own words
I stayed for Sun Ra’s performance, and that was one of the best performances... He was very in. He was playing some Fletcher Henderson.
When I heard him, he was playing his Fletcher Henderson... I was so happy to hear that, because it reminded me of when I used to go to the Paradise Theater in Detroit!
I loved it when he went into his thing and turned his back and played the piano like that backwards.
I named it after a little drummer from Brazil who played the tall drum with a mallet. He was playing with Sun Ra’s band.
But he was a sort of special person. So we had a special relationship. All I can say, he was very in!
Every mention
0 moments in the recordings, 0 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
In the interviews and notes
Barry lists Sun Ra among those who played the Jazz Cultural Theater, the place he opened with Larry Ridley and others, which held classes and weekend entertainment for five years.
Barry says he normally left after teaching without staying for any show, but stayed for Sun Ra, whose set he ranks among the best he heard there; Sun Ra was ‘very in’, playing Fletcher Henderson.
Answering Panken’s point that he is thought of as conservative, Barry says the Fletcher Henderson music reminded him of the Paradise Theater in Detroit, and that he enjoyed Sun Ra playing the piano with his back to it.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶150Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶151Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶153
Barry recalls being greeted in song by name on walking into a place, a melody he could never track down afterwards, and speaks of a special relationship with Sun Ra.
Barry explains that ‘Nascimento’ takes its name from a Brazilian drummer with Sun Ra’s band who beat a tall drum with a mallet, not from Milton Nascimento as many assume.