Moondog and Suncat Suites – Kenny Graham And His Satellites

Album of the week/moment/year – top marks to Trunk for digging up this Joe Meek-produced gem. Graham got hip to Moondog way back in ’57 and this is the result. Some tracks are very much in the same vein as recordings by the cat named Sun Ra when he was exploring the exotic. There’s no escaping the influence of Les Baxter either, of course. It’s full of quirky charm and strict adherence to the spirit of worldly ease, i.e., there’s no dirty bopper-style blowing, but there are some extremely cool solos, especially on ‘Sunbeam’ and ‘Sunday’ (from Graham’s ‘Suncat Suite’, which forms the second part of this release). Amongst the big UK names involved are Stan Tracey and Phil Seaman, the latter adding a great deal to ‘Sunstroke’. Wonderful album. Listen here if you have Spotify.