Home » Jazz Articles » Marshall Allen
Jazz Articles about Marshall Allen
Marshall Allen, Leiba Trio & Gold Mother

by Maurice Hogue
Lights On A Satellite is a fitting title for an album celebrating the 100-year-old miracle, saxophonist Marshall Allen, the mainstay of Sun Ra's legacy. His continuing direction of the Sun Ra Arkestra puts him right up there beside Planet Ra. Other new releases sampled in this episode come from a very worthy Leiba Trio from Argentina led by pianist Santiago Leibson, Portugal's Gold Mother , Free jazz saxophonist Sakina Abdou from France, the duet of long-time musical associates bassoonist Karen ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra Arkestra: Lights on a Satellite

by Joshua Weiner
As befits a being whose life encompassed much of the Solar System, from his origins on Saturn to his long earthly sojourn that ended in 1993, Sun Ra composed, played and recorded an astronomical panoply of musical styles across six decades. Lights On A Satellite, a new double album released by Germany's In+Out Records, presents a varied program that serves as a dual tribute to both Ra and Marshall Allen, the recent centenarian who has directed the Sun Ra Arkestra ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra: Lights on a Satellite: Live At The left Bank

by Mark Corroto
Sun Ra's 1978 performance at Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society ballroom had something for everyone. The great man and his Arkestra, along with singer June Tyson and dancers, performed jazz from its inception to what Ra predicted (correctly) as its future. This recording is the second unissued discovery from Zev Feldman, the Jazz Detective," and it follows the sprawling At The Showcase: Live In Chicago 1976-1977 (Elemental Music, 2024). These years, the late 1970s, were an interesting time for Ra. ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra: At the Showcase (Live In Chicago, 1976-1977)

by Giuseppe Segala
Moltissime sono le registrazioni di Sun Ra, alcune memorabili. In ognuna si nasconde una tessera, un elemento della sua vitalità inesauribile, della sua ricerca cosmica di torcere, frammentare, lacerare le convenzioni. Di toccare con mano meravigliata i materiali di cui dispone, quasi venissero da altri mondi, da altre dimensioni, da logiche differenti. Sun Ra trascende le convenzioni. Nel corso degli anni, il musicista ha ricevuto costanti attenzioni da parte del pubblico e delle etichette discografiche. Un pubblico che ...
Continue ReadingFats Waller 120 - Marshall Allen 100

by David Brown
In this episode, we celebrate two artists. In the first set, pianist and songwriter Fats Waller who was born 120 years ago this week. In the second set, we celebrate Philadelphia's ambassador to the cosmos, Marshall Allen leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, who turned 100 on May 25. These two men's lives span the entire jazz continuum. Waller, who was born in 1904 was writing hit songs when Allen was born in 1924. Their lives overlapped by 19 years. ...
Continue ReadingMarshall Allen: A Century of Joyful Noise

by Ian Patterson
Marshall Allen turned 100 years old on May 25, 2024. Back in 1995, when Allen inherited the leadership of the Sun Ra Arkestra at the age of 71, you would have got pretty good odds that he would not be holding the chair nearly thirty years hence. But the cosmology of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and all who sail in her, is nothing if not strange. His international touring days may be behind him, but Allen, who has ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra Arkestra Directed By Marshall Allen: Marshall's Groove

by Ian Patterson