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Description
**Inside the Light World: Sun Ra Meets the OVC** serves as a fascinating archaeological excavation from August 1986, unearthed decades after its original recording sessions at Mission Control Studios in Westford, Massachusetts. This cosmic jazz masterpiece represents Sun Ra's late-career collaboration with Bill Sebastian's pioneering Outer Space Visual Communicator (OVC)-a keyboard-triggered light projector capable of seventeen million colors that predates modern Virtual Reality by decades. The album captures Ra and his Arkestra in their final chapter of sonic space exploration, featuring the Maestro on Prophet VS synthesizer, Yamaha DX7, piano, and vocals alongside a stellar lineup including John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, Marshall Allen on alto, and the always-charismatic June Tyson.
Originally conceived as raw soundtracks for performance videos that would showcase the OVC's hallucinatory visuals, only two tracks made it to VHS release before the remaining 24-track analog tapes remained shelved for three decades. When finally recovered and transferred in 2016, these artifacts revealed the musical genius and chaotic improvisation that defined Ra's working method-a true "Take Nine (From Outer Space)" that prioritizes spiritual journey over technical perfection. The performances, though sometimes showing signs of travel fatigue, maintain the high-fidelity "Brubeck-quality" sound that belies their one-day recording schedule.
The repertoire showcases Ra's signature cosmic jazz vocabulary, including "Calling Planet Earth," "Love in Outer Space," and the sprawling 22-minute "Discipline 27-II." While not introducing new compositions, Ra's genius lies in his ability to make familiar material feel perpetually fresh through his characteristic shapeshifting approach. The album bridges cosmic jazz, electronic, and avant-garde territories while maintaining the spiritual urgency that made Ra the foremost figure in musical Afro-futurism.
[https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/inside-the-light-world-sun-ra-meets-the-ovc](https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/inside-the-light-world-sun-ra-meets-the-ovc) | [https://www.allmusic.com/album/inside-the-light-world-sun-ra-meets-the-ovc-mw0004266024](https://www.allmusic.com/album/inside-the-light-world-sun-ra-meets-the-ovc-mw0004266024)
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