Many people throughout history have made claims to divinity. Some, like Jesus Christ, were taken more seriously than others, like Sun Ra.
Sun Ra was a jazz-band leader like no other, and not just by the fact he claimed to be from Saturn. 'I really believe that my father was not a man,' he said. 'I was really raised by the Creator of the universe who guided me step by step.' His older sister Mary was less circumspect. 'He was born at my mother's aunt's house over there by the train station,' she said. 'I know 'cos I got on my knees and peeped through the keyhole. He's not from no Mars.' Born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914, Sun Ra grew up as jazz became the way of expression for many blacks in America's oppressed south, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie.
A talented pianist and tremendous reader, Sun Ra set out to spread his views about life, the universe and the role of black people in civilisation. He believed Negroes were the true ancient Egyptians whose role in the creation of civilisation was obscured by the white race's tampering with the Bible, in which he was well versed, and which seemed to lead to his aversion to religion.
He left Birmingham for Chicago where he and his ever-changing band, the Arkestra, began their journey in the 'spaceship' that was his life's work, imparting his often-contradictory message through poetry and music.
Though he hated the term, he became a prominent member of New York's East Village 'avant-garde' scene of the 1960s. With his sound, which began as swing jazz and ended up a unique creation that he termed 'space music', author John Szwed suggests that Sun Ra's seemingly confused, often inconsistent but always influential message was that the world was a primitive place and that humankind would do well to understand its minor place in the universe.
Sun Ra and the Arkestra, who became known for their bizarre stage shows and intergalactic costumes, moved to Philadelphia from where a series of European tours were launched which finally brought international acclaim, though never the credit Sun Ra felt he deserved.
Szwed, a professor of anthropology, African-American studies, American studies and music at Yale University, meticulously traces the life and career of Sun Ra, a name that 'Sonny' Blount - as he was earlier known - cobbled from those of Egyptian gods.