2LP – Official Expanded Edition. Vinyl Gatefold Jacket Includes A 12×12 Insert Reproduction Of The Original LP Jacket Art. Recorded in 1956 and released in 1957, Supersonic Jazz is arguably the first long-playing album by Sun Ra and His Arkestra on his Saturn label. However, it was not recorded as a debut. Rather, the album was assembled from tapes recorded during a number of sessions at two Chicago studios (RCA Victor and Balkan), and several tracks had been released as singles before their inclusion on this album. (Sunnys first fully realized commercial album was 1957s Jazz by Sun Ra, produced by Tom Wilson on his short-lived/soon-to-be-defunct Transition label.) Prior to these sessions, Sunny was still arranging for the Red Saunders Orchestra and singer Joe Williams, in addition to arranging for and coaching doo-wop ensembles. As Sunnys ambitions achieved liftoff, the Arkestra coalesced, began building a repertoire (mostly of Ras originals), and making forays into studios. Deciding it was time for commercial releases, Sunny and business partner Alton Abraham launched Saturn (sometimes called El Saturn) as a record company in 1956. As a first offering, Supersonic Jazz is a pinnacle Sun Ra release. While reflecting many prevailing bebop, Latin, and R&B conventions of the mid-1950s, its evident that Sun Ras musical voice and vision were starting to propel him away from the jazz mainstream. Biographer John Szwed finds on these recordings characteristics which seemed alien to swing, bebop, or the new, more soulful and hard-edged music which was coming to be called hard bop. Tracklist: India Sunology Part 1 Advice to Medics Super Blonde Soft Talk Sunology Part 2 Kingdom of Not Portrait of the Living Sky Blues at Midnight El is a Sound of Joy Springtime in Chicago Medicine for a Nightmare Journey to Discland October (Single) Somebody Else’s Idea (Take 1) New Horizons (Take 1) El Viktor (Take 1) Adventure in Space Delilah Soft Talk (Take 1) Medicine for a Nightmare (Alternate) Saturn #2 Delight (Take 2) Space Aura (Take 2) State Street (Alternate) Stratosphere Velvet (Alternate) Somebody Else’s Idea (Take 2) Super Blonde (Take 3) Big City Blues (Live at Budland)