Jazz in Silhouette
also 1959
Tracks
1. Enlightenment
2. Saturn
3. Velvet
4. Ancient Aiethopia
5. Hours After
6. Horoscope
7. Images
8. Blues at Midnight
This is one that's not too unfamiliar to me, since it was always on collection of one of my favorite Ra albums, and there's a reason. Not that it's too out there, in fact it's one of the more conventional ones. Yet, with that said, in terms of conventional albums, apparently this one has always been on the cutting edge. Expressing a lot of the core values that would later become of the 60s-70s free jazz, and fusion eras. Personally, I'm not the best one to ask what exactly from a technical/historical level the accuracy of this statement is. However, I can confirm 100% that Jazz in Silhouette is a indispensable portion of the Sun Ra discography, and along with Lanquidity, an essential referential album to refer a curious/entry level fan to.
One of the absolute best Ra albums ever, and really a benchmark in terms of setting the bar up for at least the technical level of Sun Ra's band. Tons of solos, and such. The actual quality of instrumentation is up, and this is probably a peak moment for any band that he's assembled. Don't expect as much avant-garde but regardless, this is a fantastic indispensable piece of music. Proof enough that Sun Ra wasn't just only about out there experiments, and gimmicks. As OccultHawk said, that cat knew what he was doing.
Complete classic. Best song is the revamped Ancient Aiethopia which is a significantly better version than on the album just before this.
10/10