Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Burgin Mathews discovers "RARE PHOTO OF SONNY BLOUNT AND THE RIPPLE RHYTHM FOUR, BIRMINGHAM WORLD, OCTOBER 25, 1940."

Burgin Mathews is doing an incredible job for Weld for Birmingham's 4 part Sun Ra series [http://weldbham.com/blog/category/art-culture/sun-ra-series/]. 

As you might have noticed, when Part 2 was first posted he made tantalizing reference to an image that didn't actually appear with the article:

"Among early press appearances, one recently unearthed item is of particular interest: a photo of Sonny Blount that appeared in the Birmingham World in October of 1940. Republished here for the first time, it seems, in some 70 years, it’s a tantalizing photo for Sun Ra fans, offering a tiny window into the musician’s roots. The Ripple Rhythm Four, the caption reads, were “making a name for themselves in the radio world,” broadcasting Monday through Friday at 12:30 on station WSGN; immediately recognizable, the youthful Sonny Blount stands with the three other singers, two of them holding guitars, each dressed in matching white jackets and black pants."

Happily, I went back to check today, and the photo has magically appeared! Thank you very much for your work Burgin!

http://weldbham.com/blog/2014/05/06/the-magic-citizen-sonny-rising/ripple-rhythm/


"RARE PHOTO OF SONNY BLOUNT AND THE RIPPLE RHYTHM FOUR, BIRMINGHAM WORLD, OCTOBER 25, 1940." from Burgin Mathews's Weld for Birmingham's 4 part Sun Ra series.

1 comment:

Steve Antonelli said...

Is this possibly the oldest known photo of Sonny? As usual, great detective work by Christopher.