50 years ago today Sun Ra recorded Magic City

Sun Ra Arkestra “The Magic City’ 27:22, side 1 of LP The Magic City

Marvellous free space music using tape echo and Sun Ra playing piano and clavioline simultaneously. ‘The boundaries of Sun Ra’s self-proclaimed “space jazz” underwent a transformation in the mid-’60s. The Magic City is an aural snapshot of that metamorphic process. Many enthusiasts and scholars consider this to be among Ra’s most definitive studio recordings.’ Lindsay Planer

Magic city was a slogan for Birmingham Alabama. He grew up next to the post office close to the station, where the  metal sign ‘Birmingham, The Magic City’ stood.