The wait is over—today we unveil the official titles for Record Store Day 2025!
Among this year’s standout releases is Sun Ra’s legendary Nuits de la Fondation Maeght recordings. Captured over two nights in August 1970, these performances marked Ra and the Arkestra’s first concerts outside North America, sharing the stage with jazz icons like Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, LaMonte Young, and Marian Zazeela. Originally issued in 1971 across two edited volumes by Shandar, these historic recordings are now being reissued by Strut as a deluxe 6LP set, housed in a sturdy hardboard box. The collection includes a 36-page booklet with liner notes by Daniel Caux, Jacqueline Caux, and Paul Griffiths, alongside beautifully restored festival photos by Philippe Gras and a replica of the original Nuits de la Fondation Maeght festival program. Fully remastered from the original tapes, this is a must-have for Ra fans.
Also joining this year’s lineup is a special release from Strut mainstay Idris Ackamoor. In celebration of his remarkable 50-year journey in the performing arts—beginning with the founding of the iconic band The Pyramids in 1972—Ackamoor proudly presents Artistic Being for Record Store Day 2025. This unique recording features acclaimed actor, activist, and author Danny Glover, alongside renowned stage actress Rhodessa Jones. More than just an album, this performance is a powerful testament to the role of art in tackling today’s most pressing social issues. Presented as a stunning 2LP set, the release features artwork by celebrated illustrator Tokio Aoyama.
Available exclusively at participating stores on April 12th.
Sun Ra - Nuits De La Fondation Maeght
Sun Ra’s Nuits de la Fondation Maeght recordings are legendary within his extensive canon. Across two nights in August 1970, these were the first concerts Ra and the Arkestra had performed outside North America and formed part of a stellar festival line-up alongside Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela.
Prior to Maeght, The Arkestra’s early years in New York had been lean in terms of gigs, money and visibility. Their precarious situation improved after Ra’s participation in the 1964 October Revolution concerts and the release of the breathtaking Heliocentric Worlds LPs. A gradual increase in touring followed and talk had turned to brokering dates in Europe when they received an invitation to play at an art gallery in Southern France in 1970. Set in the medieval town of St Paul-de- Vence in Provence, the Fondation Maeght celebrated modern art in all its forms, housing work from some of the most important artists of the 20th Century including Matisse, Georges Braque, Chagall and Giacometti.
The Ra performance featured one of the great Arkestra line-ups with mainstays John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, Danny Davis and Danny Ray Thompson at the peak of their powers. Festival curator Daniel Caux recalled, “The Arkestra’s performances were electrifying. Films were projected behind the musicians - vistas of New York and Chicago, moon rockets, Egyptian Gods and plumed African warriors. Sun Ra’s organ threw lightning bolts, dancers brandished symbolic objects. The audience was stunned by a spectacle that surpassed anything they could have imagined”.
Originally released across two edited volumes by Shandar in 1971, the concerts are now being reissued by Strut in a stunning expanded 6 LP vinyl box set for Record Store Day 2025. The set is housed in a hardboard box and features a reprint of the original festival programme, a 12-page over-sized booklet featuring liner notes by Daniel Caux, Jacqueline Caux and Paul Griffiths and stunning restored photos of the festival by Philippe Gras.
Idris Ackamoor, Danny Glover, Rhodessa Jones - Artistic Being
In honour of fifty years in the performing arts—dating back to the founding of the legendary band The Pyramids in 1972—Idris Ackamoor proudly presents “Artistic Being” for Record Store Day 2025. This special recording features celebrated San Francisco actor, activist, and author Danny Glover, alongside renowned stage actress Rhodessa Jones.
In February 2024 Ackamoor’s performing arts company, Cultural Odyssey, partnered with The Lab, a prominent San Francisco venue, to co-present "Underground Jazz Cabaret" during Black History Month. Ackamoor expressed: “Collaborating with Danny Glover and Rhodessa Jones, two of the most revered Artistic Beings, was a profound honour. Their unwavering dedication to ‘art as social activism’ feels more urgent and necessary than ever.” The performance brought together new and classic works from Idris Ackamoor and his Ankhestra, including members of The Pyramids. The evening’s score served as a connective thread, weaving together a libretto that spans from the haunting legacy of the Middle Passage to contemporary meditations and dreams for the future.
Both Danny Glover and Rhodessa Jones lent their distinctive voices to a series of powerful spoken-word musical tone poems. Among these were "Grandma Cole Story," a poignant indictment of the slave trade told through the eyes of a ten-year-old African girl aboard a slave ship, and "China Lane Suite," which explores a forbidden romance between a Chinese laundry owner and a freed slave during Reconstruction. Glover also contributed his original work, "In God’s Country," a moving homage to his mother. The evening concluded with Ackamoor’s latest composition, "Now!," a striking reflection on the crises facing the Middle East today. All the narratives were underscored by an evocative score composed and arranged by Ackamoor himself, performed by his newly expanded 14-piece Ankhestra.
This performance not only celebrated a milestone in Ackamoor’s illustrious career but also exemplified the transformative power of art in addressing the pressing social issues of our time.
Available as Vinyl 2LP, exclusively for Record Store Day UK 2025, with design by Tokio Aoyama.
