Independent record label Omni Sound has just announced the release of a special tribute album to the jazz legend Sun Ra.
The album, that will be released on August 25, 2023, will feature recitations of Sun Ra’s poems by those he worked with and inspired, including the Sun Arkestra’s Marshall Allen, Knoell Scott, and Tara Middleton, plus L’Rain, Tunde Adebimpe (of TV on the Radio), Abiodun Oyewole (of the Last Poets), Melani Charles, and more.
“My Words Are Music provides direct access to the sentiments of a poet who never called Earth home,” Omni Sound shared of their latest project on social media. “The tracks on the album provide a sonic introduction to the philosophy that sustains Sun Ra’s music and poetry.” The work is meant to offer listeners “an opportunity to follow Sun Ra into a better future, through sound and poetry.”
My Words Are Music: A Celebration of Sun Ra’s Poetry Track List:
- Marshall Allen – “EVI Introduction”
- Saul Williams – “When Angels Speak”
- Mahogany L. Browne – “Circle Eternity”
- Anthony Joseph – “The Three Dimensions of Air”
- Melanie Charles – “[Anything can give up its life]”
- Abiodun Oyewole – “Somebody Else’s Idea”
- Tara Middleton – “I Have Forgotten”
- Jive Poetic – “Flight”
- L’Rain – “Love in Outer Space”
- Tunde Adebimpe – “The Endless Realm”
- Zakia Sewell – “The Cosmic Age”
- Cal Hancock Rux – “Sun-Day”
- Knoel Scott / Marshall Allen – “The Melody of Air”
- Anthony Joseph – “The Invisible Giants”
- L’Rain – “I Deal in Souls”
- Tunde Adebimpe – “Black Prince Charming”
- Mahogany L. Browne – “Message to Black Youth”
- Jive Poetic – “Nothing Is”
- Melanie Charles – “The Friends of Skill”
- Saul Williams – “The Outer Darkness”
- Zakia Sewell – “If I Told You”
- Carl Hancock Rux – “The Void”
- Knoel Scott / Marshall Allen – “The Neglected Plane of Wisdom”
