Sunday 18 January 2015, 1pm
This is an afternoon performance: 2pm–5pm (doors 1pm)
A very rare opportunity to catch Sun Ra Arkestra band leader Marshall Allen in a smaller ensemble alongside fellow longstanding Arkestra member, the great Knoel Scott. This show provides an exciting and unpredictable grouping, and a must for anybody who's enjoyed the joyous Arkestra residencies at OTO in the past.
Please note that the matinee performance scheduled for Saturday 17 January has unfortunately been cancelled.
As a young musician, Marshall Belford Allen (b. May 25, 1924) performed with pianist Art Simmons, Don Byas and James Moody before enrolling in the Paris Conservatory of Music. After relocating to Chicago, Allen became a pupil of Sun Ra, subsequently joining the Arkestra in 1958 and leading Sun Ra's formidable reed section for the next 40 years. Marshall, along with John Gilmore, June Tyson and James Jacson, lived, rehearsed, toured and recorded with Sun Ra almost exclusively for much of Sun Ra's musical career. As a member of the Arkestra, Allen pioneered the Free Jazz movement of the early sixties, having remarkable influence on the leading voices in the avant-garde. He is featured on over 200 Sun Ra recordings in addition to collaborations with Phish, Sonic Youth, Digable Planets and Medeski, Martin & Wood.
Allen assumed the position of Arkestra Musical Director in 1995, following the ascension of Sun Ra in 1993 and John Gilmore in 1995. Marshall continues to be committed to the study, research, and development of Sun Ra's musical precepts and has launched the Sun Ra Arkestra into a dimension beyond that of mere "ghost" band by writing fresh arrangements of Sun Ra's music, as well as composing new music and arrangement for the Arkestra. He works unceasingly to keep the big-band tradition alive.
Saxophonist, flautist and vocalist Knoel Scott has been with the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1979. Born in Baltimore in 1956, Scott has played with a huge range of people. Now based in Philidelphia, he is mainly active with the Arkestra as well as his own BeBop And Byond and Knoel Scott Trio with Guillaume Cherpital and Kenyatte Abdur-Rahman.
