Thanks to Bret Saunders of the Denver Post for this article:
“Jazz: Colorado’s Hugh Ragin playing Sun Ra”
Here are a few excerpts:
Hugh Ragin, as brilliant a trumpeter as he is a dedicated educator, greeted me at Englewood’s Colorado Jazz Workshop on a Saturday afternoon in January. He had just finished a day’s worth of rehearsing three different bands, yet he was eager to speak with me on a subject with which we were mutually enthusiastic: the bandleader, pianist and cosmic traveler known as Sun Ra.
First, a bit of background on Ragin. He’s made Colorado his home for decades, but has frequently traveled the world, sharing the stage with luminaries as varied as Anthony Braxton and Maynard Ferguson. Even though he’s wholeheartedly local, he’s a member of one of the world’s most distinguished creative music groups, The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Listen to last year’s “The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris,” and get a profound sense of his sonic accomplishments. Ragin is also Dr. Ragin now, after recently obtaining his doctorate of musical arts from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Ragin, who performed with Sun Ra and his big band, known as the Arkestra, in New York decades ago, is still in awe of Ra’s sophisticated music and profound philosophies.
Ragin and friends will perform selections from Sun Ra’s expansive catalog at Denver’s Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery on Feb. 16 and March 15.
“He had this presence, this consciousness; the whole ‘big picture’ consciousness he lays on you,” he says of Ra, who died in 1993.
“It will be a multimedia presentation,” Ragin said of the upcoming Lumonics Gallery shows. “We’re definitely fusing everything. There are some fascinating Sun Ra (video) clips.”
Ragin let out a joyful “Ooooooh!,” adding, “Sun Ra will nudge you out to the universe, but he also knows how to bring you home.”
Hugh Ragin and Friends present:
The Sun Ra Project
Friday, Feb 16, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
7 pm to 9:30 pm
$20 advance
$25 at door
