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.
Ragin remembers his first job interview with Ra. “He talked for thirty minutes straight. The only pause would be when he made a profound statement. He was like a rolling river.”
“He asked me if I wanted to play. I said ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘You’re going to have to go see the wardrobe man.’ I had my red space hat, my black pants with zippers, my red vest, and I was good to go.” (Members of Sun Ra’s Arkestra often wore outer-space-themed costumes in concert.)
These many years after donning that red space hat, Ragin continues his dedication to spreading the gospel of this unusual and singular talent.
“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” with percussionist Janine Santana and keyboardist Sean Winters at the Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery, 800 East 73rd Ave. #11, Denver, on Friday, Feb. 16 and Friday, March 15, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Information at lumonics.net/jazz/)
And more jazz around Denver this month: Singer Louisa Amend and her Quintet play Nocturne on Feb. 15. … Nine-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Tierney Sutton performs two shows at Dazzle on Feb. 17. …The Flatirons Jazz Orchestra plays the Buffalo Rose on Feb. 18. … Also on Feb. 18: a Blind Tiger tribute to Sonny Stitt with Keith Oxman, at the Colorado Automobile Dealer’s Association. … The charismatic keyboardist and bandleader Jon Batiste, of the distinguished New Orleans Batiste family (and formerly of Stephen Colbert’s late show), plays the Paramount on Feb. 20. … Saxophonist Joshua Redman brings his Quintet to the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on March 1.
