May 27th, 2009
Another Chance To Catch Marshall Allen And The Sun Ra Arkestra (Sorry, It Involves NYC)
The past couple days, an acquaintance of mine who was in attendance at the sold-out Sun Ra Arkestra gig at Johnny Brenda’s Sunday night — which celebrated current Arkestra leader Marshall Allen’s 85th birthday — has been making me feel mighty regretful for missing out on what sounds like the year’s best festivities thus far. I just may try to rectify that — and if you also missed the JBs show, you might want to, as well — by heading up to New York on June 10th, when Allen receives a Lifetime Achievement Award during Vision Festival XIV, the city’s annual celebration of avant-jazz.
Allen, who still lives in the Germantown house where the late Sun Ra and his cosmic Arkestra first established their Philly homebase in 1968, will mark the occasion with two sets at the Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street):
7:30pm
Special Set
Marshall Allen – reeds
Kidd Jordan – tenor sax
William Parker – bass
Henry Grimes – bass and violin
Hamid Drake – drums9:30pm
The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
Marshall Allen – alto, EVI, flute, clarinet, vocals
Knoel Scott – alto, vocals
Charles Davis – tenor sax
Yahya Abdul-Majid – tenor sax
Danny Thompson – baritone sax
Rey Scott – baritone sax
Fred Adams – trunpet
Cecil Brooks – trumpet
Dave Davis – trombone
Dick Griffin – trombone
Bill Davis – tuba
Dave Hotep – guitar
Farid Barron – piano, organ
Wayne A. Smith Jr. – drums
Elson Nascimento – surdo
special guests Billy Bang – violin
John Ore – bass
Meanwhile, there’s a nice piece about Allen over at JazzPolice.com, in which he talks about keeping the Germantown Arkestra house alive:
“If you’re here, you got a place to practice 24 hours a day,” said Allen. “You can create, and you can get the spirit, and you can build a nice band. And then fulfill your own potential and your own career.” Allen sees it as his responsibility to preserve the music and philosophy of Ra and the Arkestra for future musicians and music fans. “I’m carrying it on, and keeping the spirit rolling, and keeping the music rolling. For the next generation, they wanna know what the last generation done, we got the music and things like that for them to see here. So we’re carrying on the tradition.”
