The Red Hot + Ra Series brings together visionary musicians, artists, and activists to explore the cosmic legacy of Sun Ra and the power of music to inspire change. Each installment supports climate justice and public health initiatives, connecting art, science, and social action through collaborative performance and music releases.
Explore and Purchase Music from the Red Hot + Ra Series →
“I felt that that was what Sun Ra would do. Manifest it!”
— Lee Shook, Festival Organizer & Music Journalist
In May of 2025 the city of Birmingham, Alabama came together to celebrate the 111th arrival day of its greatest cosmic music ambassador, the one and only Sun Ra, as a show of solidarity among arts and cultural institutions during a time of unprecedented duress. With arts funding being slashed around the country, and organizations facing significant shortfalls in their collective coffers, Ra’s hometown took the unprecedented step of utilizing the numerologically significant birthday to not just highlight his call for a higher universal self through music, and honor his incredible contributions to the world of jazz and Afrofuturism, but also raise the bar for community-driven action to help each other in a time of need.
Produced and organized by local arts and music activist Lee Shook, part of the leadership team behind Create Birmingham and the Alabama-based Earth Libraries record label, the Magic City rallied around each other to create a 4-day music and arts festival that would encompass every aspect of Ra’s complex cosmology and media output, touching on everything from music and film, to art and philosophy, as well as Ra’s complicated relationship with his place of terrestrial origin.
Bringing together a host of local venues, artists and sponsors from around the greater Birmingham area to help pull it off, the festival would raise an unprecedented $31,000 and bring the event’s complete logistics together in just seven weeks, including two historic performances by the Sun Ra Arkestra in honor of the occasion. Running from May 21st-24th, and featuring concerts by the Arkestra on Ra’s arrival day of May 22nd at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and a day later on May 23rd at legendary underground rock & roll club The Nick, the event would also host Ra-related film screenings at Sidewalk Cinema, a record signing by the Arkestra at Seasick Records, a panel discussion with Arkestra members at local Ra-inspired music venue Saturn, after-parties at Saturn and House of Found Objects, and an Arkestra-inspired art show and going away party for the band on May 24th at East Village Arts.
Completely funded by individual donors, and officially sponsored by Earth Libraries and local environmental organization Energy Alabama, the festival would prove a rousing success in not just honoring Ra’s incredible musical and artistic legacy, but in showing the power of people coming together for a common cause, and how it can reverberate for the greater good when channeled and manifested through the collective conscience. Just as Ra would have intended. Helped by online promotion from members of Wilco, Widespread Panic and Gov’t Mule— among many other local and regional artists— as well as Red Hot Organization, it was a monumental group effort as only Sun Ra could inspire. Assisted in no small part by Mayor Randall Woodfin and the City of Birmingham, along with Senator Rodger Smitherman and the State of Alabama, both of whom officially declared May 22nd to be “Sun Ra Day” in the Yellowhammer State, it was a truly magical moment for one of the Magic City’s favorite musical sons, and a shining example of what community action can look like when given the opportunity. Helping raise a significant amount of money for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Sidewalk Cinema and Film Festival, The Nick and East Village Arts, the festival exceeded the organizers’ wildest expectations in every way possible, in what can only be described as a cosmic convergence of epic— and appropriately improvised— proportions.
And all due to the influence and inspiration of one of jazz’s greatest innovators, the man and myth born Herman Poole Blount on May 22 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Or so local legend goes.
Only Le Sony’r Ra knows for sure.
Space is the Place!!!
Day 1 — Sidewalk Cinema & House of Found Objects: Space Is The Place, memorial footage, and after-party fun.
Day 2 — Seasick Records, Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame & Saturn: Album signings, education panels, and live Arkestra performances.
Day 3 — Saturn & The Nick: Jazz history panels and an unforgettable Arkestra concert.
Day 4 — East Village Arts: Ark In Town exhibit, Sun Ra Art Collective, Moon Stew potluck, and DJs.
The Sun Ra Day Festival brought together a wide array of community venues, experimental art spaces, educational programs, and passionate collaborators, reflecting Sun Ra’s ethos of knowledge transmission, experimentation, and collaborative creation.
Our collaborative orgs:
Our venues:
Our storytelling team:
With support from these organizations, the festival raised $31,000 in seven weeks to make the events possible, sold out multiple venues, and showcased the rich creative history of Birmingham jazz while uplifting local arts organizations.
November 8, 2025
American Museum of Natural History – Gilder Atrium & Invisible Worlds Theater
Planet Rock: Mission II is a large-scale, immersive music and art experience created by MASK Consortium and Sanford Biggers’ performance art sound system MoonMedicin, produced in collaboration with and presented at the American Museum of Natural History.
Transforming the museum’s Gilder Atrium and Invisible Worlds Theater into a multi-sensory odyssey, the performance merges live music, performance art, and cinematic scientific visualization. The event opens with a rendition of Nuclear War a song from the Red Hot + Ra album series. Guided by Sun GuideUs—performed by Grammy-winning visionary Meshell Ndegeocello—the audience travels with The Seekers, mythic simian archetypes embodying “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil,” on a cosmic journey from the planet in crisis toward new celestial horizons.
This second mission of Planet Rock invites audiences to move, reflect, and reimagine the future through rhythm, vision, and vibration. Come ready to leave this planet—and move like you care.
Sun GuideUs (Griot) – Meshell Ndegeocello
The Seekers (Inter-dimensional Travelers) – MoonMedicin
Speak No Evil (Psychrophone – Vocals) – Martin Luther McCoy
See No Evil (Seeboards – Keys) – Sanford Biggers
Hear No Evil (Wheels of Steel – DJ) – Jahi Sundance
Navigator (Conductor) – Mark E. Hines
Pilot (OpenSpace Visualizations) – Micah Acinapura
The 7th Horn of Gabriel (Trumpet) – Paul J. Thompson
Venus (Interplanetary Fairy) – Ebony “Wildcat” Brown
MASK CONSORTIUM extends thanks to:
Alicia Hines, Guy Routte, Lynore Routte, Arjuna Routte
AMNH
Sean Decatur, Carol Tang, Vivian Trakinski, Andrew Ng, Rebecca Oppenheimer, Loretta Skeddle, Jaeho Choi, Russel Baird, Benjy Bernhardt, Eozin Chae, Eric Cortes, Rocco DiSanti, Kobie Fowler, Danny Zieger, Amelia Greco, Megan Villa
NYC Public Schools Arts Office
Paul J. Thompson, Hannah Berson, Saman Boyd, Kayla Han, Shifat Jahreen, Joy Pace
RED HOT
Jonathan Galkin, John Carlin, Upendo Kissai
David Grandison Jr
STUDIO SANFORD BIGGERS
Meghan Masius, Simina Marin
Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War LP features 4 separate versions/interpolations of the Sun Ra single “Nuclear War” by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Josef Leimberg, Irreversible Entanglements, Angel Bat Dawid, Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O and Grandmaster CAP. The album paints a vivid picture of the struggle and resistance in the face of nuclear war, touching on themes of racial injustice, environmental destruction, and the power of love in the face of disaster.
The second project in the RED HOT + RA series, Red Hot & Ra – Nuclear War LP – The Remixes is a collection of eclectic reinterpretations and electric remixes of Sun Ra’s track “Nuclear War”.
Remixers include dub and post-punk legend Dennis Bovell, who douses the incendiary recording by Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o in space and echo. Bovell, who produced debut albums by The Slits & The Pop Group in 1979 , was the in house producer at Y Records, the UK label that originally released Sun Ra’s Nuclear War EP in 1981.
The third project in the RED HOT + RA series, Red Hot & Ra : SOLAR is a Brazilian celebration of the music of Sun Ra. The album was recorded in 2022 in Bahia and Sao Paolo Brasil and highlights incredible talent in both the jazz, avant-pop, rap and poetry. It includes such Brazilian stars as Metá Metá, Edgar, Xênia França, Tiganá Santana as well as 3x Grammy nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn and world renown musician and songwriter Meshell Ndgeocello. The entire album was overseen and produced by Xuxa Levy.
Important Brazilian and North American artists connect and dialogue with the Afrofuturist movement of SUN RA in SOLAR: SUN RA IN BRASIL. They don’t just cover SUN RA but build a new repertoire and interpretation from the original themes. Featuring new upcoming names in the American Jazz scene and massive names of the Brazilian neo-jazz scene, this project is sure to spiritually invigurate you.
Bringing Sun Ra’s repertoire into a space-time rift, to be revisited by artists who form part of the largest black population outside Africa. With a community of 86 million people of African descent, there is much opportunity to celebrate SUN RA and calling for environmental justice.
The first sonorous spark that opens the album “Solar” are atabaques from Candomblé Ketu Nation asking for permission, while Sun Ra introduces himself to those who don’t know him (Mr. Mystery).
This is how the combination that will permeate the entire disk begins: The connection between the future and the ancestry of black people.
The Disc also features the participation of Fabricio Boliveira (actor) interpreting Portuguese versions of Poems by Sun Ra, such as: “Black Prince Charming” (with the participation of the Bahian experimental musician Edbrass Brasil, and his rare and strange instruments) and “I Am An Instrument” with the magnificent Jazzmeia Horn creating textured vocal effects in the background.
The fourth project in the RED HOT + RA series, Red Hot + Ra: The Magic City is a profound musical journey curated by Grammy Award-winning bassist-composer-producer Meshell Ndegeocello, delving into Sun Ra’s repertoire. These aren’t just covers; they’re entirely new compositions, drawing on Ra’s essence while infusing original music and sounds. Ndegeocello collaborates with a diverse array of talented musicians, including the legendary 99-year-old Marshall Allen of Ra’s Arkestra, hip-hop/jazz artist Pink Siifu, saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Darius Jones, vocalist-composer Justin Hicks, and many others.
Produced by Ndegeocello and Hector Castillo, Red Hot + Ra: Magic City blends various elements—voices, synths, horns—into a cohesive sonic landscape. The album reimagines familiar Ra motifs, adding fresh layers and personal interpretations, free from the clichés often associated with his mystique. Tracks like “#9 Venus The Living Myth” and “Yet Differently Not – Mars Hall (in)” offer novel arrangements, infused with feminine energy and Ndegeocello’s vision.
Original compositions by Justin Hicks, such as “Bedlam Blues” and “Reproductive Manatees – Sunny Said Up!,” incorporate Ra’s teachings, reflecting his perspective on navigating a chaotic world. Ndegeocello’s journey into Ra’s philosophy, sparked by John Szwed’s biography “Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra,” led her to reevaluate her approach to music, seeking a deeper connection and exploration of new dimensions.
For Ndegeocello, Red Hot + Ra: Magic City is about honoring Sun Ra’s legacy while embracing the present moment. It’s a call to self-reflection and empowerment in a tumultuous world. Ultimately, the album invites listeners to recognize the power of their own choices and the importance of shaping their lives according to their own aspirations.
The fifth project in the RED HOT + RA series is Red Hot + Ra: Outer Spaceways Incorporated Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra. Individually, Kronos Quartet and Sun Ra are two of the most groundbreaking names in contemporary music. The former is the legendary San Francisco-based string quartet that laid a blueprint for what concert music could become, working with the likes of John Cage, Tanya Tagaq, and Astor Piazzolla. The latter was a singular jazz and avant-garde bandleader, as well as a philosopher and poet, who honed an extraordinary strain of cosmic experimental music from the 1950s until his ascension in 1993.
As a capstone to Kronos Quartet’s 50th anniversary, the group has joined forces with the Red Hot Organization for the new album Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra. It’s stacked with some of the most innovative artists active today — everyone from multidimensional electronic musician Jlin, to Moor Mother and DJ Haram’s radical noise / rap project 700 Bliss, to abstract hip hop luminaries Armand Hammer, to avant-garde hero Laurie Anderson, to minimalist pioneer Terry Riley.
The lead single features New Age pioneer Laraaji, and finds the beloved, orange-clad zither and piano player putting a hypnotic spin on Sun Ra’s propulsive early doo wop piece “Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie.”. The second single is a reimagining of Ra’s iconic “Outer Spaceways Incorporated,” which pairs Kronos’ swooping sounds with vocals by Los Angeles’ inimitable cosmic diva Georgia Anne Muldrow. The last released single is a suite of gorgeous movements, mystical and charged with the ethereal space-like narrations by Laurie Anderson. In collaboration with Steven Bernstein, Marshall Allen, Sex Mob & Kronos Quartet, this track is a star-studded, synergetic collection of Sun Ra interpolations.
All feature the tracks feature powerful performances from Kronos Quartet, offering an enticing glimpse at what could easily go down as one of the most eclectic, boundary-pushing, and delightful albums of the 2025.
Sun Ra was a musical visionary who explored the outer limits of jazz and fused it with elements of Afrofuturism and science fiction. Over the course of his career, he assembled a collective of musicians known as the Arkestra and created a unique sound that blended big band swing with free improvisation, electronic instruments, and Eastern and African musical traditions.
Sun Ra’s music was not just a product of his time, but a precursor to future developments in jazz, fusion, and electronic music. His work was a celebration of blackness, an embrace of the cosmic, and a challenge to the limits of human imagination. Even decades after his death, his influence on music and culture remains profound.
Born Herman Poole Blount in 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, Sun Ra reinvented himself as a cosmic messenger from Saturn—turning jazz into a vehicle for myth, freedom, and imagination. A visionary pianist, composer, and bandleader, he fused swing, bebop, electronic experimentation, and ritualistic performance into an otherworldly sound.
Through his Arkestra, Sun Ra transformed concerts into cosmic ceremonies of color, rhythm, and philosophy. Long before “Afrofuturism” had a name, he embodied it—connecting ancient African imagery with interstellar futures and asserting Black creativity as boundless and universal.
Founding his own label, Saturn Records, he championed artistic independence and mentored generations of musicians. Today, his influence spans jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, and visual art.
Sun Ra’s message endures: music is not escape—it’s ascension.
