For their latest Sun Ra box set, US independent label Transparency has pulled out all the stops to produce a huge 14-CD collection that acts as an audio history of the life and times of one of the greatest jazz musicians, composers and arrangers to have ever visited Planet Earth during the 20th century. Sun Ra's reputation for taking jazz outside of its comfort zone is well established, but his debt to the basic roots of the music (together with classical, blues, and more traditional forms of popular music) has been less documented. In many ways this first volume (Vol. 2 is promised for later this year!) could be looked on as the audio companion to John Szwed's masterful 1998 Sun Ra biography as both projects complement each other, and it would be wise to have a copy to hand as a trusted guide book while exploring the mass of material collected here.

The faux telephone interview between compiler/producer/narrator Michael Anderson and a selection of spliced together Ra voice recordings at the start acts as a useful indicator as to what lies in store. What makes this release particularly interesting is that by including big band recordings of Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Cab Calloway, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie you can hear how Ra was influenced to produce the Arkestra's more interplanetary space jazz work-outs. Also featured is piano player Mary Lou Williams whose composition ‘The Zodiac Suite’ was ahead of its time and had a huge effect on the budding pianist. Here Ra pays tribute to Williams by playing a series of her compositions, some of which would also later filter through into his own work.

Equally fascinating is Ra's involvement with early R&B and doo-wop as a musical force, selections of which are demonstrated here through such vocal groups as The Cosmic Rays and The Nu Sounds, a direction that would eventually lead to him forming Saturn Records and the successful launching of his own big band, the Arkestra. In addition to this wealth of fascinating archive material, Anderson has also uncovered recordings that relate to Ra's earliest avant-garde recordings, his meeting with saxophone player Pat Patrick, and rare readings of his poetry. To absorb all the information in this set in one sitting is nigh impossible – but by listening through each of the 14 discs at your leisure, the mystery behind Mister Ra will eventually be revealed.