A Black Mass

• Track Listing

'A Black Mass' is an ultra rare recording of a play by Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), featuring Sun Ra & the Myth-Science Arkestra. Originally released by Jihad Productions on vinyl 1968. It has only been briefly available on CD previously and has been lovingly re-mastered. Baraka was an African-American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at a number of universities, including the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His career spanned nearly 50 years, and his themes range from black liberation to white racism. Baraka's poetry and writing have attracted both extreme praise and condemnation. Within the African-American community, some compare Baraka to James Baldwin and recognize him as one of the most respected and most widely published black writers of his generation. Le Sun R (aka Sun Ra) was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his experimental music, "cosmic philosophy", prolific output, and theatrical performances. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. As LeRoi Jones wrote, "Sun Ra was only musician in my mind, not just because of his otherworldliness of the tale, but the sensuous outness. I knew Ra, with his (then titled, the name changed continuously) Myth-Science Arhestra, would bring, which I felt give a material life to the text".