The Latest Breaking News from Sun Ra

Chico Freeman to honor his famous father, ‘my hero’ Von Freeman, at Chicago Jazz Festival

Even while absorbing his dad’s unique sound, tenor saxophonist found his own powerful voice early on.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 28, 2023

AI can help shape society for the better – but humans and machines must work together

Collaboration is key to creating culturally and ethically positive systems, says professor of digital media, computing and artificial intelligence D Fox Harrell

The Guardian - UK · Aug 18, 2023

Hip-hop at 50: 7 essential listens to celebrate rap's widespread influence

On the evening of Aug. 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc attended a block party in the South Bronx. Armed with two record players and a mixer, he created an extended percussive break while others rhymed over the beats. Hip-hop was born.

The Conversation · Aug 11, 2023

At 86, Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal continues to gloriously defy music genres

Bandmate Jovino Santos Neto claims Pascoal would doubtless be a Guinness World Records holder if his oeuvre could be accurately quantified, as he is, even at 86, constantly churning out new works.

Chicago Sun-Times · May 19, 2023

From the Deep: an underwater kingdom for enslaved people who died in the Atlantic

The pre-Afrofuturist mythology of Drexciya is explored in an immersive and ambitious new exhibition from Ayana V Jackson

The Guardian - US · May 9, 2023

With a Black Californian headed to the moon, many see cosmic justice for a whole race

LOS ANGELES -- The heavens give off a bittersweet glow for Black Americans.

Los Angeles Times · Apr 17, 2023

Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz review – a cosmic brew

Capturing the full power of a live 2019 performance, the Chicago musician channels a 1959 film and Sun Ra with her potent jazz-classical suite

The Guardian - UK · Mar 26, 2023

With cars and kaiju, artists Umar Rashid and Frieda Toranzo Jaeger subvert American myth in MoMA exhibits

NEW YORK — In 1816, Kentucky-born portraitist William Edward West created a print depicting the battlefield death of British Maj. Gen. Edward Michael Pakenham at the Battle of New Orleans. At the time, the wounds of the 1815 conflict, the last of the War of 1812, were still fresh, and…

Los Angeles Times · Mar 21, 2023

Things do in Chicago March 16-22: The Mix

Tedeschi Trucks Band, Shamrock Shenanigans and “Tuk Tuks on Devon” are among the entertainment highlights in the week ahead.

Chicago Sun-Times · Mar 15, 2023

The timeless innovations of De La Soul, now (finally) available for the streaming generation

Before De La Soul, says Hank Shocklee, "'beautiful' and 'rap' weren't two words that went together."

Los Angeles Times · Mar 2, 2023