Sun Ra: The Philadelphia Years

"In the fall of 1961, jazz pianist, composer and future-seer Herman Poole Blount, AKA Sun Ra, moved his Arkestra from Chicago to New York. Since World War II, New York had been an epicenter of modernity, the launching point for many major advancements in art, music and literature – from the Abstract Expressionism of the ’40s and the Beat poets of the ’50s, to Warhol’s Factory in the ’60s. For most of the latter decade Sun Ra and his Arkestra lived in New York, navigating 'high art' cultural circles while struggling against the constant threat of poverty that many black experimental musicians have come to know so well. During this time, Sun Ra came into contact with the poet and activist Amiri Baraka and the cadre of young poets and artists that formed what would come to be known as the Black Arts Movement. ..." 

Red Bull Music Academy 

FAR OUT: Space Is The Place: Exploring Sun Ra House, Philadelphia (Video)