What was Sun Ra’s first officially released album, issued in 1957?

Sun Ra’s first officially released album, issued in 1957, was Jazz by Sun Ra. The record was released on the Chicago-based Transition label, which was founded by jazz producer Tom Wilson. It introduced listeners to Sun Ra’s distinctive small-group sound before his music became more overtly experimental and cosmic.

The album was recorded in Chicago in 1956. Its personnel included Sun Ra on piano, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, trumpeter Art Hoyle, and drummer Tommy Hunter, among others. The repertoire mixes original pieces with arrangements that show Sun Ra’s connection to swing, blues, and early modern jazz.

Jazz by Sun Ra is often confused with Super-Sonic Jazz, another early Sun Ra album that was recorded around the same period and released soon afterward. Sun Ra was born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914. He later developed an elaborate artistic mythology involving space travel and ancient Egypt, but his earliest recordings still reveal a musician deeply rooted in the jazz traditions of Chicago and the big-band era.