Sun Ra's venture into Egypt is well known among fans and more casual listeners. The most known release from that venture was the collaboration with Salah Ragab who was a prominent jazz figure in Egypt. There are other recordings of concerts from that tour that did not feature Salah Ragab and Horizon is one of those recordings.
I'll be frank this isn't an easy listen, most of this recording is either free jazz or really disjointed but if you like that sort of thing I think you'll like it because the band is absolutely on fire here. The album starts with a short introduction and then moves to a lengthy free jazz soloing and exposition featuring Sun Ra solos and also a saxophone solo. After about 20 minutes of free form playing the band shifts into a more friendlier sound and goes on to play some of its famous compositions like Space is The Place. After some jamming and overall excellent melodic grooves the band switches back into the final and more bombastic free jazz form with ridiculously fierce sax solos accompanied by brooding brass sections ominously playing in the back. After those diddly dads the album ends with the band talking to the audience in a very characteristic Sun Ra manner ("we'll wait for you in another woooooooooooooorlllddddd") and then they blast into my second most liked Sun Ra track which is The Satellites are Spinning that goes on for 11 minutes accompanied by claps from the audience and loose sax soloing.
Basically what you get here is a fully packaged Sun Ra live performance. There's a bit of everything from their career up to that point (1971) but there's definitely an emphasis on more free forms rather than on more structured jazz. I myself really enjoy this recording but I'm not sure if it's for everyone though!
Get it.
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Thank you.
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