The Magic Sun

The Magic Sun is the work of composer-photographer Phill Niblock, who, back in 1966, decided to film a performance by the inimitable Sun Ra, the former Herman “Sonny” Blount, a onetime straight-ahead jazz pianist who went on to form a band (the “Solar Arkestra”) who wore odd costumes, declared themselves to be cosmic travelers from Saturn, and played music that might best be described as idiosyncratic. Niblock's 17-minute short is abstract, to say the least; shot in black-and-white and developed with what the publicity blurb calls “a unique negative process” (kinda like infrared, without the red) that consists of a few tight close-ups of musicians' hands, saxophone keys, cymbals, and such, and a whole lot of visual blips, bleeps, and other totally unidentifiable stuff. So is it “good”? Well, one person's avant-garde is another's pretentious horse crap, so it all depends on your point of view. Same goes for the music; the blaring brass and howling horns may strike some as sublime (and in truth, the rhythm section does get a pretty good groove on), while others will liken it to a cat being skinned alive. Not to be missed are the galleries of photos (also by Niblock), accompanied by Sun Ra raps in which he intones such eternal verities as: “The past is the past, and the future is the future” and “Out is the way of the outer, in is the way of the inner.” Uh, sure, okay. Optional. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)