fb pixcode

MUSIC: HISTORY, SURVEYS & THEORY

PUBLISHER
Blank Forms Editions

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 6.25 x 8.25 in. / 512 pgs / 20 color / 40 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2023 p. 15   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9781953691163 TRADE
List Price: $29.95 CAD $41.95

AVAILABILITY
In stock

TERRITORY
NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME

THE FALL 2024 ARTBOOK | D.A.P. CATALOG

Artbook | D.A.P. Catalog Cover Link
Preview our FALL 2024 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture.
  

BLANK FORMS EDITIONS

A Strange Celestial Road

My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

By Ahmed Abdullah with Louis Reyes Rivera. Foreword by Salim Washington. Photographs by Marilyn Nance, Val Wilmer, Raymond Ross, Adger Cowans.

A Strange Celestial Road

A thrilling account of life with Sun Ra’s Arkestra and New York’s avant-garde jazz scenes of the 1970s–90s

In this memoir, Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah recounts decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charts the rise of the New York loft jazz scene, offering a fascinating portrait of advanced music in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan from the 1970s through the 1990s, including thrilling stories about the politically important Bed-Stuy venue The East and the author's tutelage under composer and long-time Archie Shepp collaborator Cal Massey. Along the way, Abdullah covers his spiritual development as a Buddhist, battles with addiction, tribulations as a father, lessons from Sun Ra and working life as an educator and cab driver.
Trumpeter and educator Ahmed Abdullah was born in Harlem in 1947. An important figure in the New York loft jazz movement, in 1972 he formed a group called Abdullah, two years before joining the Sun Ra Arkestra, with whom he played for more than 20 years. He is a founding member of the bands Melodic Art-Tet, The Group and NAM, and of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium. Abdullah is the music director at Sistas’ Place in Brooklyn, and teaches music at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan and an elementary school in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.


A Strange Celestial Road

in stock  $29.95


Free Shipping

UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.
FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/21/2023

Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah on his time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah on his time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

New from Blank Forms Editions, A Strange Celestial Road: My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra is a one-of-a-kind, 512-page goldmine by Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah, recounting decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charting the rise of the New York loft jazz scene. Featured photograph is of Abdullah with Sun Ra and His Arkestra in Istanbul, Turkey, 1990⁠. Abdullah quotes Sun Ra: “It’s not easy to play in this band because there’s certain stuff you have to have. You have to belong, you have to be rated by Superior Beings as suitable, and if you’re not rated … I be telling everybody, it’s not my band. It’s the Creator’s band, and if they’re not suitable for the future, they won’t be fit for the present.” continue to blog


FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/21/2023

Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah on his time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

Trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah on his time in the Sun Ra Arkestra

New from Blank Forms Editions, A Strange Celestial Road: My Time in the Sun Ra Arkestra is a one-of-a-kind, 512-page goldmine by Harlem-born trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah, recounting decades of national and international touring with the Sun Ra Arkestra and charting the rise of the New York loft jazz scene. Featured photograph is of Abdullah with Sun Ra and His Arkestra in Istanbul, Turkey, 1990⁠. Abdullah quotes Sun Ra: “It’s not easy to play in this band because there’s certain stuff you have to have. You have to belong, you have to be rated by Superior Beings as suitable, and if you’re not rated … I be telling everybody, it’s not my band. It’s the Creator’s band, and if they’re not suitable for the future, they won’t be fit for the present.” continue to blog


FORTHCOMING AND NEW: MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS

Longing for Lo-fi

LONGING FOR LO-FI

Onomatopee

ISBN: 9789493148970
USD $22.00
| CAD $32

Pub Date: 6/18/2024
Active | Out of stock


Christopher Dell: Dialogue Concerts

CHRISTOPHER DELL: DIALOGUE CONCERTS

Spector Books

ISBN: 9783959057417
USD $40.00
| CAD $58

Pub Date: 3/5/2024
Active | Out of stock


Dancehall

DANCEHALL

Soul Jazz Books

ISBN: 9781916359833
USD $49.95
| CAD $65

Pub Date: 11/3/2023
Active | In stock


Radio Art Zone

RADIO ART ZONE

Hatje Cantz

ISBN: 9783775755153
USD $49.95
| CAD $71.95

Pub Date: 2/20/2024
Active | In stock


Blank Forms 09: Sound Signatures

BLANK FORMS 09: SOUND SIGNATURES

Blank Forms Editions

ISBN: 9781953691170
USD $25.00
| CAD $36

Pub Date: 1/16/2024
Active | Out of stock


The Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century

THE CULTURE: HIP HOP & CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Gregory R. Miller & Co./Baltimore Museum of Art/Saint Louis Art Museum

ISBN: 9781941366547
USD $55.00
| CAD $79 UK £ 49

Pub Date: 6/27/2023
Active | In stock


A Strange Celestial Road

A STRANGE CELESTIAL ROAD

Blank Forms Editions

ISBN: 9781953691163
USD $29.95
| CAD $41.95

Pub Date: 10/3/2023
Active | In stock


Voices: Defining Moments in Music and Theater

VOICES: DEFINING MOMENTS IN MUSIC AND THEATER

Verlag für moderne Kunst

ISBN: 9783903439450
USD $65.00
| CAD $91

Pub Date: 3/21/2023
Active | In stock


Artificial Music

ARTIFICIAL MUSIC

Spector Books

ISBN: 9783959055246
USD $15.00
| CAD $21

Pub Date: 12/20/2022
Active | In stock


Listen: Jeph Jerman in Conversation with Aram Yardumian

LISTEN: JEPH JERMAN IN CONVERSATION WITH ARAM YARDUMIAN

Errant Bodies Press

ISBN: 9783982316635
USD $25.00
| CAD $35

Pub Date: 3/14/2023
Active | In stock


The Cricket

THE CRICKET

Blank Forms Editions

ISBN: 9781953691101
USD $35.00
| CAD $49

Pub Date: 9/13/2022
Active | In stock


Galaxie 500: Temperature's Rising

GALAXIE 500: TEMPERATURE'S RISING

20-20-20

ISBN: 9781737440017
USD $35.00
| CAD $49 UK £ 25

Pub Date: 10/4/2022
Active | In stock