Thank
You Sonny!
Thank You Sun Ra!
Thank You Le Sony'r Ra!
In 1988 Teddy Thomas, a long time member of the Arkestra, brought
Sun Ra and Marshall Allen to a Brazilian concert and introduced
us. At this time, Sun Ra invited some of us to play with the Arkestra.
He Later commented that "They fit in. They were just with us for
one night, but they got so into it they were asking for space costumes
to wear too. They were wearing amazing things. So I told the band,
"See, I've corrupted the Brazilians."
Based on some previous experience I had in Brasil with movie production,
I was able to apply some aquired skills to the numerous tasks needing
attention in Sun Ra's organization. For me this was a very important
and major organization in the music field and Sun Ra was a master
musician.
Very soon Sun Ra involved me in some of the different aspects of
recording; something he had been doing for many years - independently
recording over 200 albums. For some time I was suprised that he
shared so much with me. With what I was able to learn I'm now trying
to give back. Well, Sun Ra used to say "I set it up this way."
Elson
