ASTRO-BOP

Saturn was kind to Gonzo jazz extremist Sun Ra; in his innovative, erratic four-decade career (launched with 1953’s Sound Sun Pleasure!! on Evidence Records), the bandleader frequently favored this cosmic pit stop as a backdrop for his wild art. Shortly before his death in 1993, this fascination manifested in live gigs with plate twirlers, glittery costumes, and fire eaters—an exhibitionist menagerie to equal his demanding strain of progressive bop. Philly House producer King Britt (De La Soul, Sylk 130) honors this true absurdist idol with Sun Ra-lectric: Saturn Never Sleeps, a surrealist multimedia evening of new visuals, electronics, and live reconstructions of Sun Ra’s music. In the crystalline confines of the Winter Garden, the evening should be as ethereal as the master always was.

Tue., July 28, 9 p.m., 2009