Editing Sun Ra (section)

===New York years (1961–1968)===
Sun Ra and the Arkestra moved to [[New York City]] in the fall of 1961. To save money, Sun Ra and his band members lived communally. This enabled Sun Ra to request rehearsals spontaneously and at any time, which was his established habit. It was during this time in New York that Sun Ra recorded the album ''[[The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra|The Futuristic Sound of Sun Ra.]]''<ref name=":0" />

In March 1966, the Arkestra secured a regular Monday night gig at [[Slug's Saloon]]. This was a breakthrough to new audiences and recognition. Sun Ra's popularity reached an early peak during this period, as the [[beat generation]] and early followers of [[psychedelia]] embraced him. Regularly for the next year and a half (and intermittently for another half-decade afterwards), Sun Ra and company performed at Slug's for audiences that eventually came to include music critics and leading jazz musicians. Opinions of Sun Ra's music were divided (and hecklers were not uncommon).{{cn|date=February 2024}}

High praise, however, came from two of the architects of bebop. Trumpeter [[Dizzy Gillespie]] offered encouragement, once stating, "Keep it up, Sonny, they tried to do the same shit to me,"<ref>Szwed (1997), p. 219.</ref> and pianist [[Thelonious Monk]] chided someone who said Sun Ra was "too far out" by responding: "Yeah, but it ''swings''."<ref>Szwed (1997), p. 219; emphasis in original.</ref>

Also in 1966, Sun Ra, with members of the Arkestra and Al Kooper's Blues Project, recorded the album ''Batman and Robin'' under the [[pseudonym]], The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale. The album consisted primarily of instrumental variations on the [[Batman Theme]] and public domain classical music, with an uncredited female vocalist singing the "Robin Theme."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/02/sun_ra_and_the_.html|title=Sun Ra and The Blues Project Do Batman and Robin (MP3s) - WFMU's Beware of the Blog|website=blog.wfmu.org|date=February 4, 2006|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/05/mazzy-star-batman/|title=Mazzy Star Batman|last=Courage|first=Nick|date=2015-05-05|website=The Paris Review|language=en|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>

Despite their planned management of money, the costs of New York eventually became too high and motivated the group to move to Philadelphia.{{cn|date=February 2024}}