Sun Ra and his Arkestra at the North Sea Jazz Festival - Saturday 17 July 1982.
A Sun Ra concert is something you will remember for the rest of your life: it is a mix between a big-band free-jazz concert, a religious ceremony and a trip to outer space. Long before UFO abduction stories had been heard of, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount) had become convinced that his roots lay on the planet Saturn which he visited by spaceship and he developed "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry as he preached "awareness" and peace above all in his music.
No need to point out that the concert of Sun Ra and his Arkestra that I visited on the Roof Garden scene at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1982 was quite the spectacle with the space music, poem recitals and space costumes. Click on this youtube link to get an impression what the concert was like.
Camera: Pentax ME, lens: Sigma 70-150mm F3.5, ISO 1600
