Back to Saturn
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Back to Saturn
| type = album
| artist = Hugh Ragin Collective
| cover = Hugh_Ragin_Back_to_Saturn.jpg
| alt =
| released = 2000
| recorded = August 10 and 11, 1993
| venue =
| studio = Eye in the Sky Sound, LaPorte, Colorado
| genre = Free jazz
| length = 1:05:28
| label = Black Saint
120160-2
| producer = Flavio Bonandrini
| chronology = Hugh Ragin
| prev_title = Gallery
| prev_year = 1999
| next_title = Fanfare & Fiesta
| next_year = 2001
}}
Back to Saturn (Dedicated to the Memory of Sun Ra) is an album by trumpeter Hugh Ragin and his Collective, featuring vibraphonist Greg Carroll, pianist Marc Sabatella, bassist Erik Turkman, and drummer Scott Gordan. It was recorded on August 10 and 11, 1993, at Eye in the Sky Sound in LaPorte, Colorado, and was released in 2000 by the Black Saint label.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/back-to-saturn-mw0000010669 |title=Hugh Ragin: Back to Saturn |first=Scott |last=Yanow |website=AllMusic |access-date=February 5, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=Hugh%20Ragin%20Collective&title=Back%20To%20Saturn%20%28Dedicated%20To%20The%20Memory%20Of%20Sun%20Ra%29 |title=Hugh Ragin / Back to Saturn |website=ArtistInfo |access-date=February 5, 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_Hugh_Ragin.htm |title=Hugh Ragin discography |website=JazzLists |access-date=February 5, 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_Label_Black_Saint_0150.htm |title=Black Saint Records main series discography |website=JazzLists |access-date=February 5, 2023}}
Reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz
| rev2Score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2006 |pages=1088 }}
}}
In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow noted that the album "progress[es] logically from the boppish 'Blue Honda a la Truck,' the grooving 'Fanfare and Fiesta,' and 'Bud-Like' to increasingly freer music before the spacy closer." He wrote: "Virtually every Hugh Ragin recording is well-worth exploring, and this one is no exception."
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album an "enjoyable set" and a "nice record," but noted that "Ragin's devotion to the music of Sun Ra... is more implicit than explicit."
Track listing
- "Blue Honda a la Truck" (Marc Sabatella) – 9:18
- "Fanfare and Fiesta" (Hugh Ragin) – 6:45
- "Bud-like" (Marc Sabatella) – 4:06
- "Song for the Old Country" (Don Pullen) – 8:15
- "Pictures" (Hugh Ragin) – 11:41
- "Hugh's Blues" (Hugh Ragin) – 7:24
- "Goblin Market" (Marc Sabatella) – 8:16
- "Back to Saturn" (Erik Turkman) – 9:43
Personnel
- Hugh Ragin – trumpet
- Greg Carroll – vibraphone, percussion
- Marc Sabatella – piano
- Erik Turkman – bass
- Scott Gordan – drums