Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 13, 2016

I attended a Sun Ra concert in the late 1970s, and it’s perhaps indicative of the sheer mind blowing power of that live performance that after it was over, I promptly went out and consumed an entire pepperoni pizza, despite having been a vegetarian for some years at the time. It’s an obviously non-scientific anecdote, but in my mind at least there has always been a connection between Sun Ra’s iconoclastic, at times cacophonous, live performance and my still kind of odd decision to simply indulge in something that was off my behavioral “norm” at the time. Much of that same iconoclasm shines through rather strongly throughout Robert Mugge’s at times ebullient Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise, a 1980 documentary which captures the patently bizarre but still somehow innately lovable Sun Ra, who was born with the somewhat less cosmic moniker of Herman Poole Blount in 1914.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise captures some of the ritualistic ambience of a typical Sun Ra live performance, albeit in at times whismical settings. One recurrent element is a rooftop performance in Philadelphia that finds the band outfitted in various weird costumes, replete with masks and face powder (Sun Ra himself seems to have powdered his hair and eyebrows). Other interstitial sequences feature Sun Ra opining on a variety of “cosmic” subject matters, not the least of which is Sun Ra himself. The quasi-messianic fervor of Sun Ra is at times an almost humorous mismatch to his rather detached, matter of fact, speaking style (something that is itself at odds with Sun Ra’s typically florid performance declamatory style). Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise would have probably been more well rounded had it given more of a biographical arc for its title subject, but as a document of Sun Ra and his band circa 1980, it’s indispensable.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. While the IMDb lists this as having been shot on 35mm, the look of this transfer obviously suggests 16mm, and in fact the back cover touts a new HD restoration from "an original 16mm master," further evidencing the proper (original) format of the film. The look here is appropriately gritty, grainy and relatively soft. Colors are nicely reproduced if perhaps slightly pallid looking, and there's an appealing thickness and texture to the presentation. There are occasional slight but noticeable issues with grain resolution, which at times takes on a slightly multicolored and clumpy ambience. Elements are in generally good shape, though have typical age related wear and tear.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise features a problem free LPCM 2.0 mono track, one which struggles at times to offer much separation when Sun Ra's "Arkestra" masses a bunch of midrange instruments together, like some huge jams featuring several sax players wailing simultaneously. Those moments expose just a very slight brittleness in the sound, but otherwise this is an enjoyable if narrow enterprise which more than adequately supports the spoken elements.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Extended Audio offers uncut performances (without video) of tunes utilized within the documentary.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've never seen (let alone heard) Sun Ra before, be prepared for a bit of a trip to the carnival once Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise starts up. Sun Ra's music covered a rather wide array of styles, but I'd place some of his sax-centric pieces somewhere on the spectrum between Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders. When Sun Ra sits down at a piano and starts pounding out some blues, there's almost more of a roundhouse feel to things. What makes this documentary so fascinating, though, are Sun Ra's ruminations about Man's place in the cosmos. Just prepare yourself to do the unexpected after you've listened to the man for a little while. Recommended.