Recorded in July 1978 and released in 1979, this is a special album in the expansive Sun Ra discography. Firstly, the bandleader/pianist/keyboardist rarely ventured in the duo format. Secondly, the piano/vibraphone combination — without a rhythm section too — isn’t such a common sight, although Chick Corea and Gary Burton made a case for those instruments’ association, with Brian Marsella and Sae Hashimoto reviving it no later than this year with Tunnel Vision on their own Red Palace Records label. Dickerson had previously featured Sun Ra in a rare sideman appearance on piano and harpsichord on his 1965 album Impressions of a Patch of Blue (MGM Records, reissued on CD by Verve). Visions is as remote from Ra’s exotic big band arrangements of the early years as it is of his thunderous free jazz and electronic forays of later eras, instead distilling a peaceful and dreamlike atmosphere for all of its duration. The vibraphone’s floating and diffracted tones invite the pianist and listeners into the realms of meditative abstraction. Together they offer a liberated and unique spin on the jazz idiom. This music should be listened to at good volume, one’s gaze turned toward the night skies. The CD version issued in 1988 added 25 additional minutes from the same session, while the LP now available again reverts to the original release duration, with three cosmic-themed tracks on side one and two on side two. Interestingly, an unreleased 24 minutes by the duo, recorded two years later at a Dickerson-billed concert, surfaced in 2023 on the Modern Harmonic release Sun Ra - Haverford College Jan. 25th 1980 Solo Rhodes Piano. This time around, Ra played the Fender Rhodes, which tones are close to that of the vibraphone. Maybe this is why he seemed content to offer supporting chords and clouds now and then, not getting in the way of his partner’s discourse. In any case and whether you pick this 2025 remastered LP edition or find the earlier CD version, Visions is an endearing and singular record even by the standards of these players, and recommended listening for anyone interested in the manifold manifestations of Great Black Music.
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