Fate In A Pleasant Mood / When Sun Comes Out

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Fate In A Pleasant Mood / When Sun Comes Out album cover
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Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 67:19

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Michael Shore

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Sun Ra, Fate In A Pleasant Mood / When Sun Comes Out
Label: Evidence Records

The late-Chicago-era Fate debuted two of Ra's loveliest tunes: the title track and "Lights on a Satellite." Now a septet, the band gracefully negotiates mysterious, sultry arrangements; in "Ankhnaton," the horns feint in odd-angle syncopation over finger-popping swing before left-turning into a remarkable mallets-on-toms Afro-tribal bridge. By When Sun Comes Out, Ra had moved to New York with Gilmore, alto sax demon Marshall Allen (here on snake-charming oboe) and rock-solid bassist Ronnie Boykins. Along with Allen's evil alto twin Danny Davis and baritone sax wiz Pat Patrick, they're more aggressively adventurous, but When is most dramatically different from the Chicago date in its feel: Fate is lush and mean — dark, harsh, and brooding — where its counterpart is warm and inviting.

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A delightful and listenable Sun Ra

sillyilly

This has long been one of my favorite Sun Ra albums and I might even go so far as to say that it ranks up there in my jazz list. Some of the tracks have a really long view but none seem to wander too far off as as other Sun Ra can do. In this case the "long view" makes for an extremely diverse sound something like Glenn Miller meets Willie Wonka meets Band of Gypsies. And speaking of the sound, the engineering is really great on this record too.

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They Say All Music Guide

Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out is a pairing of two early-’60s Saturn LPs that catch the Arkestra in an interesting transitional phase. Fate in a Pleasant Mood is one of the final recordings from the Chicago phase, while When Sun Comes Out is one of the first recordings made after the band relocated to New York. The Chicago period had Ra forging a personal sound using elements of swing and bop, with stellar horn arrangements and propulsive timpani drums. By the time they settled in New York, the swing and bop elements had fallen by the wayside and the percussive elements figured more prominently, with solos taking a more outside tack. Sun Ra and John Gilmore, in particular, play much more aggressively, with Gilmore really expanding his vocabulary. While it’s not as musically cohesive as other Evidence two-fers, Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out does a nice job of summarizing the Arkestra’s first major stylistic shift. This makes it an important document for collectors and, in providing a look at two early phases of the Arkestra, it also gives the Sun Ra novice a guidepost to these two distinct periods. – Sean Westergaard

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