桑·拉（Sun Ra，1914年5月22日-1993年5月30日），出生名为赫尔曼·普尔·布朗特（Herman Poole Blount），依照美国法律登记的名字为Le Sony'r Ra，是一位爵士乐作曲家、乐队领队及诗人，是黑人未来派的先驱。此外也会弹奏多种乐器，并提出了所谓的“宇宙理念”（cosmic philosophy）。1979年入选阿拉巴马爵士乐名人堂。 　　因为他非正统的音乐风格和生活方式，桑·拉此人备受争议。他宣称自己不是地球人，而是来自土星的“天使族”（Angel Race），同时放弃了自己的出生名。他给自己取了名字“Sun Ra”（桑·拉），其中“Ra”来自埃及的太阳神拉，在其演艺生涯中，亦曾采用过其他的数个不同名字。1993年因肺炎在出生地伯明翰逝世。　　 　　在他孩提时代，他父亲便离家出走，Sun Ra基本上是靠他姨妈与外祖母抚养的。17岁生日时，他收到一架钢琴作为礼物，Sun Ra的音乐知识主要是靠自学，他并没有受过多少音乐教育。Sun Ra在上高中时组建了一支自己的乐队，在当时，他就能掌握各种节奏与音符。上大学时，他声称有外星人把他带入宇宙空间，使他得到了神的感召。他中途辍学，与多支主要由伯明翰人组成的乐队合作在南方巡演。 　　In March 1943, the draft board reclassified Blount as 4-F because of his hernia, and he returned to Birmingham, embittered and angered. He formed a new band and soon was playing professionally. After his beloved great-aunt Ida died in 1945, Blount felt no reason to stay in Birmingham. He dissolved the band, and moved to Chicago—part of the Second Great Migration, southern African Americans who moved north during and after World War II. 　　In August 1946, Blount earned a lengthy engagement at the Club DeLisa under bandleader and composer Fletcher Henderson. Blount had long admired Henderson, but Henderson's fortunes were fading (his band was now made of up middling musicians rather than the stars of earlier years) in large part because of his instability, due to Henderson's long term injuries from a car accident. Henderson hired Blount as pianist and arranger, replacing Marl Young. Ra's arrangements initially showed a degree of bebop influence, but the band members resisted the new music, despite Henderson's encouragement. 　　In 1948, Blount performed briefly in a trio with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and violinist Stuff Smith, both preeminent swing-era musicians. There are no known recordings of this trio, but a home recording of a Blount-Smith duet from 1953 appears on Sound Sun Pleasure, and one of Sun Ra's final recordings was a rare sideman appearance on violinist Billy Bang's Tribute to Stuff Smith. 　　By 1952 Blount was leading the Space Trio with drummer Tommy "Bugs" Hunter and saxophonist Pat Patrick, two of the most accomplished musicians he had known. They performed regularly, and Sun Ra began writing more advanced songs. 　　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 notable jazz musicians. Opinions of Sun Ra's music were divided (and hecklers were not uncommon).