SUN RA AND BATMAN - 1966

It may not sound like it, but this is Sun Ra and the heart of his Arkestra (John Gilmore, Marhall Allen, and Pat Patrick) performing their version of the theme song for the original Batman television series. It was recorded as part of a gimmick album for a toy company in New Jersey in 1966 with members of the infamous Blues Project under the moniker The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale. It is a bit more funky than the original, and the collapse at the 1:38 mark is classic Sun Ra. As a point of reference, here is the "official" version of the Batman theme, which was written by the late, great trumpeter and Nebraska native Neal Hefti.




If you're interested, WFMU has all of the tracks from this record available on their website here.