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3 unusual facts about Ronnie Boykins


Ronnie Boykins

Like his fellow Sun Ra bandmates, John Gilmore and Pat Patrick, Boykins attended Chicago's DuSable High School and studied under its famed music teacher "Captain" Walter Dyett.

In the course of his career, Boykins also worked with Mary Lou Williams, Marion Brown, Sarah Vaughan, and Daoud Haroom, among others.

This is especially pronounced on the key recordings from 1965 (The Magic City, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One and The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two) where the intertwining lines of Boykins' bass and Ra's electronic keyboards provide the cohesion.


ESP-Disk

Other artists who have recorded for this label include Ornette Coleman (the "Town Hall Concert"), Pharaoh Sanders (who made his recording debut on ESP), Sun Ra, Ronnie Boykins, Marion Brown, Sonny Simmons, Paul Bley, Ran Blake, and Perry Robinson.


see also

The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

But as soon as they crossed the George Washington Bridge they collided with a taxi and bent one of the wheels of bassist Ronnie Boykins's father's car.