“These unique works comprise a precis of Ra's portfolio. There are jovial romps through tradition and remarkable, thoughtful expansions of it. Small wonder his work continues to inspire today's leading pianists.” - Martin Johnson (WSJ, NPR, and beyond)

Sun Ra was a master of misdirection. Tape boxes wrongly labeled—whether by accident or design—are legendary among Ra archivists. One can speculate about the artist's intent or carelessness, but source misinformation abounds on Ra tape cases, album jackets, cassettes, ephemera—as well as in interviews. It's as if Ra, in furtherance of his own mythmaking, wanted to keep historians guessing.

This project began as a misidentified tape discovered by Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive. The 7-inch reel, which contained a live Ra solo piano performance of 11 works—some recognizable, others not—was of stellar quality, and was marked as a 1979 Carnegie Hall date. But the program on the tape did not align with known facts (e.g., titles played, concert duration) which were chronicled in a Newsday review of Ra's appearance at Carnegie in September of that year. With a prod from writer/historian Ted Gioia and further research by Irwin Chusid, the tape was eventually identified as a mostly unreleased July 1977 performance by Ra at a downtown NYC "jazz café" called The Axis-in-Soho.

From a cursory listen to the found tape, it was apparent that Ra and Celestial were rehearsing, trying to lock grooves, forging a musical bond. They weren't creating masterpieces—they were testing their chemistry, with Ra occasionally calling out directions. When the quarter-inch, quarter-track tape was flipped, Celestial had taken a break and Ra vamped four solo numbers on piano, after which Celestial returned and the jam resumed. The solo pieces were extracted and added to the projected Axis set. Same artist, roughly the same period, same city, similar feel as the Axis recordings. 

Two of the Variety works were easily identified: "At Sundown" and "Everything I Have Is Yours," two 1920s relics which Ra had certainly heard countless times during his formative years. A search of the Ra discography indicated that Ra had never recorded either title. Here he even casually mumbles some of the lyrics. The two remaining unidentifiable Variety vamps were assigned titles based on atmosphere. Apologies to the composer if he had other moods in mind.