has anyone read John F Szwed's bio of Sun Ra though?

In terms of personal temperament they had a lot in common. I was rather disappointed to learn that Sun Ra was a very stuck-up, self-centred, dictatorial and conservative individual - quite petty in his own way, quite a martinet. He was also witty and visionary. Then again, I'm reading Ayckroyd's William Blake bio, and he also sounds like he'd be pretty patience-testing to be around.

Course, Sun Ra's music sounded like the diametric opposite to that (well, I guess there is a strong sense of order to the chaos...) Warm, generous, eccentric, all-embracing

Someone mentioned John Cage above: everything I've read about Cage suggests he was a real gent, that his music, lifestyle, opinions and general deportment were all part and parcel of an fundamentally decent whole.