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Do The Impossible: Original Soundtrack To The Documentary

SUN RA

Released 22 May 2026

Modern Harmonic

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A fascinating archival companion to an extraordinary life, revealing the breadth of Sun Ra’s cosmic vision through music that remains radical, playful and defiantly future-facing.​

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Few figures in twentieth-century music compare with Sun Ra. Composer, pianist, philosopher, poet and leader of the ever-evolving Arkestra, he created a body of work that dissolved boundaries between jazz, electronic experimentation, Afrofuturism, big band tradition and spiritual inquiry. Decades before such ideas became part of mainstream cultural discourse, Sun Ra imagined alternative histories, futures and identities through music that was simultaneously ancient and futuristic. His influence now extends far beyond jazz, informing generations of artists working across experimental music, electronic composition and contemporary Black cultural thought. Arising from a PBS documentary, part of their American Masters series, Do The Impossible illuminates the remarkable scope of that vision.

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The album functions on two levels. As accompaniment to a documentary, it helps narrate the life and philosophy of one of modern music’s most enigmatic figures. As a standalone listening experience, however, it offers something equally valuable: a concise journey through the many dimensions of Sun Ra’s artistic universe. What becomes immediately apparent is the extraordinary breadth of that universe. Swing-era roots, celestial big-band arrangements, electronic experimentation, free-jazz excursions and spiritual incantation coexist naturally, often within the same sequence. Listening to the soundtrack is a reminder that Sun Ra never saw these as contradictions. For him, jazz history, science fiction, mythology and social critique were all components of a single cosmology.

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The collection's greatest achievement is how clearly it demonstrates the continuity of his vision. Even when the musical language shifts dramatically, the underlying purpose remains consistent: to expand possibility. The documentary's title, Do The Impossible, captures precisely the impulse that drove Sun Ra’s work throughout his career. He was not merely creating unusual music; he was proposing alternative ways of imagining reality itself.

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For longtime devotees, many of these recordings will be familiar. Yet heard together in this context, they acquire renewed coherence. For newcomers, the soundtrack provides an accessible entry point into a catalogue that can sometimes appear overwhelming in its scale and diversity. More than three decades after his passing, Sun Ra still sounds less like a historical figure than a messenger from a future we have yet to reach. This soundtrack serves as a powerful reminder of why his influence continues to grow.

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Read more...

Sun Ra Arkestra​

Wikipedia

Spotify

YouTube

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