Sun Ra The Singles (Evidence)
In the 1940s Sun Ra migrated from Alabama to Chicago, where he worked with R & B vocal combos as well as star solo singers. He also played piano in an ensemble led by the legendary Fletcher Henderson, and when he formed his own group in the 50s, he took a cue from Henderson, composing and arranging for specific instrumentalists rather than instruments. That, and the complex and uncanny nature of the arrangements, made such outstanding jazz musicians as saxophonists John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, and Marshall Allen faithfully devoted to him. When they came together with the stellar vocalists that Sun Ra also assembled, composed for, and usually accompanied, the results were light years beyond mere doo-wop.
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Sun Ra and most of the Arkestra members left Chicago for the east coast in the 1960s, but some musicians who recorded with them continued to work in what was a thriving R & B industry here. As Robert Pruter mentions in the liner notes to The Singles, Cosmic Rays vocalist Calvin Barron continued singing in local groups, including the Twi-Lights. Others worked behind the scenes as session musicians, such as former Arkestra trumpeter Art Hoyle, who recorded with the Dells.
