{"product_id":"space-is-the-place-the-lives-and-times-of-sun-ra","title":"Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra","description":"\"Sun Ra - a\/k\/a Herman Poole \"Sonny\" Blount - was born in Alabama on May 22, 1914. But like Father Divine and Elijah Muhammad, he made a lifelong effort to obscure many of the facts of his early life. After years as a rehearsal pianist for nightclub revues and in blues and swing bands, including Wynonie Harris's and Fletcher Henderson's, Sun Ra set out in the 1950s to find a way to impart his values about the galaxy, Black people, and spiritual matters through the various incarnations of the Intergalactic Arkestra. His repertoire ranging from boogie-woogie, swing, and bebop to free form, fusion, and whatever, Sun Ra was above all a paragon of contradictions: profundity and vaudeville; technical pianistic virtuosity and irony; assiduous attention to arrangements and encouragement of collective improvisation; respect for tradition and celebration of the fresh\"--","brand":"Szwed, Professor John","offers":[{"title":"Very Good","offer_id":54346340565275,"sku":"mon0000805249","price":18.16,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0958\/4004\/3291\/files\/6050093482714.jpg?v=1792707987","url":"https:\/\/bookalley.com\/products\/space-is-the-place-the-lives-and-times-of-sun-ra","provider":"Book Alley","version":"1.0","type":"link"}