Black Sun Ensemble

Jesus Acedo is the quixotic leader of Black Sun Ensemble (1985-2008) who, on the basis of his enigmatic recordings, has been hailed by critics as one of the most innovative guitarists of our time.  Born on Christmas Eve, 1962 in Tucson, Arizona, to Mexican immigrant parents, Acedo was one of eight children, the only one with an interest in music. After the death of his father in 1975, Acedo grieved by immersing himself in music. He spent most of his early adolescence at the Tucson public library listening to Ravi Shankar and Led Zeppelin records. At this time, Acedo bought a guitar and in high school, he began experimenting with the unique tunings of his guitar that give his music what one reviewer reverently called “peculiarly mystical, twangy, meditative, Middle Eastern rock sound”. Muze, in describing his style, said he can “spit blasts of dragon fire or conjure the exotic, iridescent mystique of peacock feathers with a single stroke.”  A self-titled debut album was released by Tucson’s Pyknotic Records in 1985. Its extraordinary qualities led Acedo to sign a five-year contract with England’s Reckless Records, and in 1988 the label released “Black Sun Ensemble” (1988), “Lambent Flame” (1989) and “Elemental Forces” (1991).   At the time, Offbeat exclaimed that BSE was “possibly, the world’s coolest band.” After touring the West Coast with Camper Van Beethoven in support of “Lambent Flame” the Ensemble was captured live on the first side of “Tragic Magic” (1992) for Absolute A Go Go Records.The second side was a magical suite of mostly acoustic pieces that presaged the extensive title track of the later “Sky Pilot” CD.

The inexorable weight of personnel changes, drugs and unexpected success eventually unbalanced Acedo’s mental stability. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1992 and spent the next several years in and out of local hospitals. During his breakdown, the band recorded the damned “Psycho Master El” album for Tucson’s San Jacinto Records (1994). This  record was remixed and remastered in 1998 for Camera Obscura Records. The results were issued as “Sky Pilot” in 1999, which also included rare Black Sun singles tracks and a brand new 20-minute work called “Sky Pilot Suite“.  Sky Pilot got rave reviews by critics and sold well locally and internationally.

That same year, Acedo joined forces with Tucson pysch-rockers Sun Zoom Spark as a backing band.  The initial BSE line-up of Jesus Acedo (guitar), Eric Johnson (bass), Otto Terrorist (drums) and Brian Maloney (saxophone) began playing regular gigs again around Tucson.  News of Black Sun’s return to the stage was appreciated by grunge-rock legend Mark Arm of Mudhoney, who engineered a shared performance at Tucson’s Club Congress in early 2001. In February 2001, Camera Obscura reissued the debut Black Sun Ensemble recording from 1985, again to extraordinary reviews.  The quartet recorded “Hymn of the Master” at SlowBurn Studio in 2000.  The project was mixed at Tortuga Studio by Ducan Hudson and was released on Camera Obscura Records in 2001.   Former BSE illuminary Nervous Duane Norman returned to the band to record “Starlight” at SlowBurn Studio and was released in 2003.  The quintet, with the addition of percussionist John Paul Marchand was invited to showcase at 2002 South by Southwest music festival in Austin Texas.  Based on the success of their performance, BSE was invited back to showcase in 2004 and 2005.

Otto Terrorist left Tucson for New York City in late 2001 but still managed to record two songs for 2006’s “Bolt of Apollo.” Otto Terrorist’s drum duties were temporarily filled by veteran Tucson musician Ernie Mendoza for the remainder of the record. “Bolt of Apollo” also featured a music video, shot on location by in China by long-time friend and BSE fan, Jonathan Levitt.  During this time, Black Sun Ensemble released two limited-edition live recordings exclusively on SlowBurn Records called “Live At KXCI Volume I and II,” documenting the band’s live on-air perforances and interviews from 2001 and 2004.  In 2006, the core band of Acedo, Eric Johnson, Brian Maloney and John Paul Marchand began to splinter due to the weight of personal and artist differences.  It was these stresses that led to Eric Johnson to quit the band in 2007.  Johnson, however, continued his role of engineer and producer for the next BSE recording project.

For live shows, Johnson was replaced by Tucson multi-intrumentalist Scott Kerr.  The band played a few more gigs in Tucson before the remaining members called it quits in 2008.  In summer 2008, Black Sun Ensemble published their last collection of new works with SlowBurn Records thru Camera Obscura Records. “Across the Sea of Id: The Way to Eden,” has the band comng full circle to the semi-acoustic recordings that began the their career in the 1980s.  The CD also featured a music video and artwork created by BSE percussionist, John Paul Marchand.

Since 2008, Jesus Acedo has again struggled with many of the demons that have haunted him throughout his adult life.  While he never seems to be totally empty as far as musical ideas or guitar skills, it remains unclear what he will chose to do in the future.  As far as this story goes, the band has officially dissolved after the release of “Across the Sea of Id…,” however, it would not be suprising if Jesus Acedo would reappear again someday with a new band and a new set of blistering guitar workouts to showcase.  (November 2010)