rake-star
Some Ra
 
 
 
 

rake-star:
David Broscoe,  alto, baritone sax, bassoon,clarinet
Petr Cancura, tenor sax, clarinet
Rob Frayne, tenor sax, flute, clarinet
John Geggie, double bass
Jennifer Giles, button accordion
Jamie Gullikson, drums, suitcase
John Higney, guitar, lap steel
Rory Magill, trombone, drums
Pierre-Yves Martel, double bass
Mark Molnar, cello, violin,
Martin Newman, double bass
Gaby Warren, voice
Shara Weaver, dance
Linsey Wellman, alto sax, flute
 

Produced by Ross Murray and Rory Magill
Recorded live at the Bayou Blues & Jazz Club, Ottawa, April 2003
 
 
 

What the critics are saying;

Rake-Star nails the Ra mantra-approach with their huge sound.  The band is heavy on the bottom end and the reeds suggest floating in a zone removed from earth's gravitational pull.  Even though the listener can't see the dancer, this live recording is reminiscent of a Sun Ra performance filled with theatrical and musical spectacle.
Replication is an artistic no-no when playing the compositions of departed masters.  The key is to invigorate the music with integrity. Rake-star demonstrate that they can take the music of a shining star like Sun Ra, apply their own artistic acumen, and come up with...aesthetically high caliber music.

Were he still a resident of this plane of existence, the former Mr. Blount would likely be pleased by the rampant adulation on display in these consistently entertaining sounds.

Some like it hot and some like it cool.  Me, I like it both ways.  Enter Rake-star, a local sixteentet who pay tribute to master jazz and funk wizard Sun Ra and have manages to translate their vivid live shows onto an exclusively aural format.  Mixing stellar Ra numbers with equally spacey originals, this orchestra concentrates on a bouncy horn versus percussion interplay, resulting in a record that sways, dips, teeters, crawls and jumps.  4.5 stars.

So this CD, Some Ra, was a nice surprise for this writer:  a very good album, it was recorded live in Ottawa, at the Bayou Blues And Jazz Club, on April 6, 2003.  Given the excellent quality of the arrangements and the musicians' extended familiarity with the compositions by Sun Ra, I have to stress the limpid sense of proportions that makes it possible for the ensemble to avoid a sense of overcrowding. We always get a clear sense of the relationship between the soloist and the collective, the opening up of the winds' arpeggios, those atmospheres that sound so traditional and yet so daring.  Choosing favourite moments in this (more than one-hour long) CD is quite difficult. There's the nice opening of Space Is Still The Place, Pt. III, the nice ensemble and solos (trumpet and tenor sax) of Somewhere In Space/Angels And Demons At Play; also noteworthy are  the baritone sax and the basses on Spectrum, the Cobalt/Satellites Are Spinning medley, the whole group  on Discipline 33, the closing medley of Don't Do (by trombone player Rory Magill, who reveals himself to be a  very good composer) and We Travel The Spaceways.

For an interview with Rory Magill, go to Beppe Colli's great website, www.CloudsandClocks.net.

For an interview and show review check out this from the Ottawa Citizen.