Sun Ra Vs. Saturday Night Live

The Ra's mothership lands on SNL, 1978 (rm video file for download), introduced by Buck Henry. Excuse the grainy quality, great performance though. I asked Andy Breckman if he was around the set to sit in with the Arkestra, but alas, was before his time. Thanks to Derek Erdman.

Comments

[Listener James from Westwood]

Tough to believe, from looking at SNL today, that folks like Sun Ra and William S. Burroughs performed on that stage. Oh, and Klaus Nomi, though as a backup singer for Bowie (no slouch himself). Even as little as 10 years ago, the first musical piece was usually my cue to go raid the fridge. I can still hear Patrick Stewart saying, "Ladies and gentlemen: Salt N Pepa!" and thinking, "I think I still have Fig Newtons."

[jason]

i saw an SNL repeat from the mid-late 70s/early 80s with Ornette's electric band. they were doing a funky harmolodic type of thing like "Dancing In Your Head". if anyone could find that, i'd be a happy man.

[js]

Awesome set. Too bad that you guys still insist on the evil RealMedia format that crashes my computer halfway through. I guess I'll have to figure out some way to convert it somewhere else so I can listen at home. (grumble mutter).

If only Saturday Night Live still had that much faith in their audience... Really, I wish any late night weekend show did.

[Kenny G.]

Sun Ra? Ornette Coleman? William S. Burroughs? On big media? It's hard to imagine today...

Kenny

[Listener Colin]

Kenny, you should check out the guest list on David Sanborn's "Night Music" show ...

[BigSteve]

Ornette's Prime Time electric band did indeed play SNL. Unfortunately it was the episode hosted by Milton Berle. I remember reading years ago that Lorne Michaels said it was the absolute worst episode ever. Berle and the cast were not exactly on the same page. Michaels claimed that the episode was locked away and would never be seen again. So I didn't think it had ever been rerun, though someone somewhere *must* have taped the original broadcast. My memory of it was that it was mind-blowing.

[j]

Ra and the Arkestra were also on Night Music (at one time known as Sunday Night, as I recall).

[evan cordes]

That Ornette-on-SNL clip has made it to YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EHTdc36627k

[Calvin, A 14 Year-Old Blues & Jazz Enthusiast]

Wow!
This footage is priceless. Thanks for posting it!

[rev.b]

Any chance of locating the complete performance? The beginning and end have been edited off. How do I know? Because I saw the original broadcast and let me tell ya, it was a red letter day/night for me! I only managed to record the audio, but that's how I can tell the clip was edited. This was one of the most exciting things I've ever seen on the tube and it was a real treat to see it again. Here's hoping the complete version can be found. The missing bits are phenomenal!!!!