Original Sun Ra and His Blue Universe Arkestra album art wrap proof sheet for "Universe in Blue," 1972

Chicago: El Saturn Records, 1972. Original album art wrap proof sheet for the Sun Ra and His Blue Universe Arkestra's rare 1972 live album, "Universe in Blue", designed by Claude Dangerfield, 1972.

Dangerfield was one of the few artists, other than Sun Ra himself, who contributed dynamic "space-age" graphics for use by Ra and his Arkestra. A self-taught painter who was a DuSable High School student with Arkestra members John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, and manager Alton Abraham, Dangerfield begun designing album covers and promotional artworks for the Arkestra beginning in the late 1950's. Over the next three decades Dangerfield created a plethora of original art for Ra, including album art for several releases. However, much of his work was never used in the final productions and only exists as original sketches or proofs, such as the piece presented here. Dangerfield's work was featured in the exhibition "Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968," at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, April 23-August 2, 2009.

"Universe in Blue" is a live album featuring Sun Ra's own unique take on the blues. Originally issued in small-run pressings by El Saturn Records in 1972, and never released on CD, the release has been a sought after rarity for Sun Ra collectors. Featuring a collection of live recordings from 1971 and 1972 at Slugs' in the Far East, a New York club were the Arkestra regularly performed in the late 1960s, doing two sets every Monday night between 1966 and 1968, and offering a glimpse into the Arkestra's repertoire and virtuosity at the close of their first decade playing in New York.

26 X 14 inches. Very Good plus with faint creasing and edgewear to the right edge.

[Book #158539]