Anthony Braxton Discography
By Francesco Martinelli
Bandecchi e Vivaldi, 222pp, £16 / $25 (plus p&p)
E-mail: orders@felmay.it

The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, 2nd Edition
By Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent
Cadence Jazz Books, 848pp, $60 (plus p&p)
E-mail: ncd@cadencebuilding.com

Anthony Braxton coined the term 'restructuralists' to describe those artists who, through the force of their creativity, change the parameters of their chosen field of activity. It's appropriate then that, in his latest work on Braxton, the Italian writer Francesco Martinelli has proved he is truly a restructuralist discographer. While he includes all the standard discographical information for the nearly 200 recordings that Braxton has appeared on, as performer or composer, Martinelli also provides so much more

Allocating each disc a page to itself, he is able to add a wealth of extra written and visual material from Braxton's 30-plus years as a recording artist. Among the visuals are previously unpublished photographs, examples of Braxton's unique composition-title diagrams, examples of notation, LP sleeves, magazine covers and concert posters. Texts include quotes from magazine reviews and CD guides, extracts from books, essays and websites, plus a sprinkling of new commentaries specially written for this book. There is also a selected bibliography, appendices on Braxton on film and on the web, and several indexes. The result is a discography that is not only an essential reference resource on one of the music's major figures but, in offering a range of fascinating critical opinion and attractive visuals, is also an absolute pleasure to read.

The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra may be more traditional in format but it too offers so much more than a conventional discography. Robert Campbell and his new co-compiler Chris Trent have attempted the awesome task of listing every known Sun Ra recording and live performance, providing complete personnel and set/track details for each one. This second edition is much expanded, with nearly 300 new entries and extensive revisions and additions to previous entries. That means there are nearly 800 dates listed here, and the personnel and songtitles for most of them had to be identified by ear, often from audience tapes. But even the compilers' hard work is overshadowed by that of Sun Ra and the Arkestra, who seem never to have played the same set twice in some 35 years of performing. One of the most remarkable entries is for the band's 1980/81 New Year's Eve concert in Detroit, where their three sets totalled 7 hours 53 minutes and included 90 different titles!

All three writers acknowledge that no discography can be error-free and I did spot a few in the two under review. But it would be churlish to complain when there is so much useful and accurate information here. Discographies are labours of love and compiling them must often seem a thankless task - so, on behalf of the rest of us who also love the music of Braxton and Sun Ra, I'd like to thank Messrs Martinelli, Campbell and Trent for their ground-breaking work. Together with a small number of other reference books, like Ben Young's Dixonia and John Gray's Fire Music, these two discographies will stand as classics of New Music scholarship.

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