Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra Arkestra at Tri-C JazzFest 2025

by John Chacona
July 13, 2025

Sun Ra ArkestraMimi Ohio Theatre Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, OH June 27, 2025 When is a band not a ghost band? It is a question posed by a Cleveland jazz media figure after a performance by the Sun Ra Arkestra on the first full day of the Tri-C JazzFest, and it was a fair one on the surface. Here, after all, is a big band founded in the '50s that had no original ...

46th Annual Tri-C JazzFest

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 8, 2025

46th Annual Tri-C JazzFest Playhouse Square Cleveland, OH June 26-28, 2025 Jazz festivals occupy a precarious space these days. Pressured by financial constraints, too many have drifted toward booking artists with only a passing connection to the jazz tradition. Cuts to both public and private funding have only compounded the difficulty of producing large-scale music festivals. This year's Tri-C JazzFest wasn't immune to those realities. Several of its outdoor performances veered into genres ...

Sun Ra Arkestra at Great American Music Hall

by Harry S. Pariser
December 10, 2024

Sun Ra Arkestra Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA November 22, 23, 24, 2024 The Great American Music Hall has long served as an anchor of San Francisco's music scene. As jazz bookings here are infrequent, it was great news when the venue welcomed back the Sun Ra Arkestra for another three-night residency. Founded some seventy years ago, the Arkestra's jubilance, terrific musicianship and infectious showmanship have earned it a loyal following. The Arkestra's ...

Sun Ra Arkestra: Lights on a Satellite

by Joshua Weiner
November 26, 2024

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 ...

Sun Ra Arkestra at Great American Music Hall

by Harry S. Pariser
February 25, 2024

Sun Ra Arkestra SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, California February 6-8, 2024 Over the decades, music venues in San Francisco have come and gone, but one constant remains: Great American Music Hall. A house of ill repute when it first opened in 1907, the building has gone through several transitions as a musical performance space and has even served the Loyal Order of the Moose as a meeting hall. In 1972, visionary Tom Bradshaw refurbished and ...

Sun Ra Arkestra: Living Sky

by Stefano Merighi
December 5, 2023

Mentre la Enterplanetary Koncepts continua a sfornare inediti della Sun Ra Arkestra, il roccioso Marshall Allen--che va per i 100 il prossimo anno...-riesce a concepire di tanto in tanto nuove produzioni. Dopo l'apprezzato Swirling, ecco Living Sky, inciso a Philadelphia nel 2021, ancora sotto lo choc del COVID. E appare proprio come una seduta di musica dolcemente terapeutica questa raccolta di brani tenui, riposanti, deliziosi. Il gruppo raduna 19 elementi, che sotto la guida di Allen imbastiscono una ...

Sun Ra Arkestra at SFJAZZ Center

by Harry S. Pariser
August 9, 2023

Sun Ra Arkestra SFJAZZ Center Summer Season San Francisco July 18-21, 2023 Though on the surface, Dead & Company and the Sun Ra Arkestra--the first a Grateful Dead offshoot focusing on rock tunes featuring extended jams, the other an avant-garde jazz ensemble that remains ahead of its time--might seem really different, in fact they share surprising similarities. Both recently performed multi-night concerts in San Francisco. Dead & Company which has inherited The Grateful Dead's ...

Sun Ra Arkestra Veteran Drummer Wayne Smith, Jr. Releases 'Be Still,' A Powerful Venture In Emotion And Tranquility

Source: Outside in Music
July 19, 2023

Wayne Smith Jr. is a drummer, composer, and educator with a multifaceted palette of soundscapes and genres at his disposal. Having toured across three continents, performed throughout the New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. music scenes, and currently working as a staple member of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, Smith’s accolades rightly herald his abilities as a master craftsman of the drum set. Described as an “inventive drummer who displays an in-depth musical consciousness,” and who is “willing to embrace ...
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Sun Ra Arkestra Headlines 2nd Annual Beacon Jazz Festival -- June 25, Riverfront Park, Beacon, NY

Source: James Keepnews
March 18, 2016

The legendary cosmic jazz of Sun Ra Arkestra—under the direction of their longtime, nonagenarian alto saxophonist, Marshall Allen—headlines the second annual Beacon Jazz Festival. Sponsored by Birches Associates and once more celebrating this quintessential American music, alongside the distilleries, craft vendors, culture and natural splendor of the Hudson Valley, the second Beacon Jazz Festival will take place on Saturday, June 25 from 2-7 PM at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon, NY. In addition to presenting Sun Ra ...
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Veronica’s Tales Jazz Festival (Slovenia) Set for June 18 to 21

Source: Michael Ricci
June 13, 2014

June 18 will see the launch of the first edition of the Veronica's Tales Jazz Festival in Kamnik Slovenia. The four day festival will be held at the historical castle “Zaprice" and run from June 18th, up to and including Saturday June 21st. Performances start every evening at 19.00, with the main stars of the festival performing at 21.00. The Veronica’s Tales festival is one of the new breed of festivals that have been popping up in eastern Europe over ...
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New book: Picture Infinity - Marshall Allen & The Sun Ra Arkestra

Source: aurelia boro
November 22, 2011

Multi-instrumentalist Marshall Allen is among the most striking voices in jazz. His explosive alto saxophone is signature sound of the Sun Ra Arkestra, an iconic African-American big band which he joined in 1958. Succeeding the bands legendary founder Sun Ra who already in his lifetime has turned into a myth of its own, Marshall Allen has directed the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1995. Under the guidance of the 87-year old maestro, the Sun Ra Arkestra has not only survived all ...
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IN + OUT RECORDS announces new releases from Johnny Griffin, the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen, and Ratko Zjaca with John Patitucci, Steve Gadd and Randy Brecker

Source: Michael Ricci
July 26, 2010

IN + OUT RECORDS, one of Europe's most enterprising and acclaimed independent jazz labels, with a reputation as a producer of recordings of the highest musical and technical quality established through its twenty-plus years of releasing cutting edge music created by both American and European artists, announces its second release of new recordings to be distributed exclusively in the United States by the Allegro Media Group. Following up on its initial Allegro distributed release of recordings by Billy Cobham, Odean ...
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The Magic City: Sun Ra Arkestra at University City (Philadelphia) on July 24

Source: Ars Nova Workshop
July 16, 2010

The last time we heard from the Sun Ra Arkestra was on May 25th at Johnny Brenda's when Ars Nova Workshop hosted Maestro Marshall Allen's 86th birthday celebration. Through two high-energy sets that had the audience either dancing feverishly or contemplatively traversing the spaceways, the group demonstrated the unrivalled expertise, joy, and passion that have been the foundation for their musical journeys since Sun Ra founded the Arkestra in the mid-1950s.

At 6PM on Saturday, July 24, the Sun Ra ...
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Sun Ra Arkestra - Sunrise in Different Dimensions (Hatology)

Source: Master of a Small House
July 12, 2010

The solitary entry by the Saturnian in the Swiss label's catalog, this set earns its third pressing on compact disc with this newly-minted hatOLOGY edition. It's singular in several other senses as well. Culled by producer Werner X. Uehlinger from the band's first night stand at Willisau in the winter of 1980, the track list skews toward the standards that were a regular part of the band's repertoire, but infrequent inclusions on record. Space chants and Ra originals commonly took ...
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A Real Jazz Party! Second Annual Jazz up Down and Around with the Sun Ra Arkestra in Philadelphia on April 25th

Source: Michael Ricci
April 19, 2010

Join the Party! It's LifeLine's second annual JAZZ UP DOWN AND AROUND event thanks to funding by the William King Foundation and support by the University of the Arts, Philadelphia Jazz Heritage Project, All About Jazz and WRTI radio.

Hear jazz in all directions with:

Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen Warren Oree & The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble The University of the Arts Jazz Band.

APRIL 25, 2010 THE ...
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Sun Ra Arkestra Member/Father of Massachusetts Governor's Collection Dedicated to Berklee S Africana Studies Archive

Source: Michael Ricci
March 18, 2010

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and his family, is honoring his late father s musical and cultural legacy by donating the vast collection of jazz musician, composer and arranger Laurdine Kenneth Pat" Patrick to Berklee College of Music s Africana Studies Archive. The historical Pat Patrick Collection comprises hundreds of scores, photographs, personal materials, and recordings. A dedication ceremony and celebration of Pat Patrick s life and work will be held on March 24 at the college s Africana Studies Archive. ...
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Ars Nova Workshop Presents: Peter Brotzmann/Nasheet Waits, Offonoff, Matana Roberts and the Sun Ra Arkestra!

Source: All About Jazz
May 5, 2009

Ars Nova Workshop presents: Wednesday, May 6, 8pm BROTZMANN / WAITS DUO Peter Brotzmann, reeds Nasheet Waits, drums Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th Street $12 General Admission The founding father of the European Free Jazz movement, German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann has made important contributions with Last Exit (with Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock and Ronald Shannon Jackson), Die Like a Dog (with William Parker, Hamid Drake and Toshinori Kondo) and his Chicago- ...
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