Sun Ra, born Herman Poole Blount (1914-1993), grew up in the Jim Crow South and later transformed himself into a celestial being from Saturn. He created cultural aesthetics that imagined liberation from racism and white supremacist shackles. Sun Ra fused swing, bebop, free jazz, electric keyboards and synthesizers to create his sui generis avant-garde sound.

Sun Ra’s embrace of Egyptian iconography, space-age imagery and alternative historiography laid the foundation for aliberatory technology, a future of possibilities in a society that said there weren’t any. The “Godfather of Afrofuturism” reimagined Black identity across space and time. His influence is recognized in venerable cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

This week, PBS American Masters will premiere Sun Ra: Do the Impossible, a feature-length documentary that provides a definitive look at the life and cosmic philosophy of the jazz visionary.

The documentary explores Sun Ra’s early years in Birmingham, Alabama, his formative time in Chicago where he established the communal lifestyle of the Arkestra, and his later years in Philadelphia.

Sun Ra: Do the Impossible premieres Friday, February 20 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).