Sun Ra : Art on Saturn : The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra’s Saturn Label

Sun Ra : Art on Saturn : The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra’s Saturn Label – Drawn from private collections around the world, this is the first complete collection of printed Saturn record sleeves, as well as hundreds of unique record sleeves and labels, hand-designed and decorated by Sun Ra and members of his Arkestra.

Considered the leading exponent of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra mastered a wide range of styles, from jazz to R&B, exotica, Afro-hybrid, electronic, big band, solo piano, orchestral, experimental and chamber music. In his 45-year career, he has released an impressive number of albums and was one of the first black musicians to own an independent label, which he named Saturn, after the planet on which he claimed to have been born. Saturn’s record sleeves, published from 1957 to 1988, are emblematic: some are from commercial presses, but many were hand-made. These records were sold at concerts, in clubs and by mail order. As collector’s items, original handmade Saturn sleeves sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. More than just packaging for a piece of vinyl, these are works of art in their own right.

Sun Ra: Art on Saturn is the first complete collection of all Saturn-printed album covers, as well as hundreds of one-of-a-kind record sleeves and labels, hand-designed and decorated by Ra himself and members of his Arkestra. Essays by Irwin Chusid, curator of the Sun Ra catalog, John Corbett, eminent Ra specialist, and Glenn Jones, who in the 1970s signed a distribution contract with Ra that resulted in countless Ra records being sold.