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Comment by kelseyfrog | Hacker News Reader

Sun Ra is one of those artists who I remember listening to for the first time and thinking, "this is what music could be," instead of "this is what music is."

It's a dear experience, to feel your mental territory of music, or books, or art, expand outward in that moment. It leaves a lasting impression - or at least for me it does.

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Yep, same here. I didn't get into jazz until late in life and toured all the popular and deep cuts. Miles, Coltrane, Coleman, Monk, etc. I loved it all, but then I heard Sun Ra Arkestra's "Springtime Again" and I was absolutely floored. It opened up so many possibilities in my brain, almost like what I would expect a psychotropic drug experience would be like (I have never tried).

Anyways, I did a deep dive on Sun Ra and have collected as much of his music as I can. I've seen the Arkestra two times and hope to at least one more time before Marshall Allen departs this planet (he turns 99 this year).

Crazy story, again I have never done drugs, but I had a very intense dream where I met Frank Zappa and he took me through his warehouse(!) of records and introduced me to all his favorite Sun Ra records. I'll never forget that dream, I woke up energized to listen to all his recommendations.

Who needs drugs when you dream those kinds of dreams :))

On a sidenote, i hope the trend of popularizing hard drugs will fade and people will focus again on other means to achieve different state of mind through artistic activities, like live music.

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