John Cage and Sun Ra performed together in 1986 at Coney Island, New York. This recording from Ubuweb documents that famous meeting of the minds. Sun Ra’s DX-7 improvisations are extremely original and interesting as John Cage performs the vocal work. They are like “and the twain will never meet” together but the total performance stands out as a historic and rare recording.
Meeting Of The Musical Minds
Ubu:
“Sun Ra begins with improvisations on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. John Cage performs his vocal work, Empty Words (Part IV), and each alternates performances. Cage’s performance is wonderfully trance-like with long silences as is typical of him. Sun Ra’s playing is other-worldly with little of the jazz quality that one hears in his Arkestra works. As a combined effort this “meeting” may not be very convincing. However if you consider each individual’s artistry, especially Sun Ra’s incredible sojourn at the synthesizer, you will find this a very rewarding experience.”
