Sun Ra is interesting in a bizarre sort of way,

Strongly suggest you revise that and take a closer look at not only Ra's contribution to the development of Jazz from late 1940s onwards but also his celebration of everything that went before, between and beyond. John Coltrane studied in Ra's school - owing much of his sound to John Gilmore, one of the unsung giants of the tenor saxophone contented himself to stay in Ra's ranks (with an occasional foray into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers) for his entire career. Sun Ra doesn't just define Jazz, in many ways Sun Ra is Jazz; a baffling intergalactic ideologue whose extended residency on Plant Earth is evidenced by a recorded legacy that would take an entire lifetime to get to grips with.

Calling Planet Earth!