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A Strange Celestial Road: My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

A Strange Celestial Road: My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

$29.95    Member Price: $26.96

By Ahmed Abdullah and Salim Washington

In this memoir, Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah recounts decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charts the rise of the New York loft jazz scene, offering a fascinating portrait of advanced music in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan from the 1970s through the 1990s, including thrilling stories about the politically important Bed-Stuy venue The East and the author's tutelage under composer and long-time Archie Shepp collaborator Cal Massey. Along the way, Abdullah covers his spiritual development as a Buddhist, battles with addiction, tribulations as a father, lessons from Sun Ra and working life as an educator and cab driver.

  • Blank Forms Editions, 2023
  • Softcover, 512 pages
  • 7 x 9 inches

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