You Should Be Having This Much Fun at 101 (Though Mainly Recorded When Allen Was 99)!
for the adventurous listener Space and Philly Are the Place
Charles Lloyd is still out there making vital music at 87 but consider alto saxophonist Marshall Allen! He recently turned 101. The Sun Ra Arkestra leader since 1995 founded Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizon ensemble in 2022 featuring Arkestra guitarist DMHOTEP along with an ever changing roster of guest musicians from the worlds of jazz and rock including Immanuel Wilkins, The War on Drugs' drummer Charlie Hall, "divine" saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, Yo La Tengo's bassist James McNew, avant garde rockers Wolf Eyes and many others, all of whom contribute to this live wild ride that at times sounds like a cross between PIL's Metal Box and a slaughter house but mostly like the kind of joyous squealy fun times Sun Ra fans have long enjoyed.
This double LP set is drawn from live performances at Solar Myth between 2022 and 2024. Solar Myth is a Philly wine bar/club opened in 2022, (providing a permanent home to Ars Nova Workshop) but if you go to the site it's so localized it doesn't say it's in Philadelphia or Pennsylvania. You just get a street address. That's crazy.
Not surprisingly there's a Philadelphia connection among many of the musicians who play on this record drawn from 9 performances. Allen is in fine, unfettered (un Fetterman?) form playing alto sax, Casio VL-Tone, Crumar/Steiner Electronic Valve Instruments and singing too.
As much liberating fun as all of this is, you can't go wrong starting on side 2's super charged opener "Stay Lifted" featuring Philly native Elliott Levin (Cecil Taylor, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, etc.) on sax and flute, bassist Luke Stewart, Sun Ra Arkestra (and Kool & the Gang) veteran trumpeter Michael Ray and drummer Tcheser Holmes, plus of course Allen and DMHOTEP.
Certainly Sun Ra Arkestra and Marshall Allen fans will want to add this to the Ark stash but even first timers who dig free jazz will enjoy this never less than joyous, celebratory love fest.
The sound is on the deep, dark, cavernous side of the timbral spectrum, which works well for this music, and overall you can crank it up and find sonic satisfaction, aided by good lateral spatial spread and generous well-controlled bass. Dave Gardner (profiled on Tracking Angle at that hyperlink) mastered this live set and cut the lacquers. He's whipped it all into excellent sonic shape.
"99 years in outer space. That's right" indeed! You can buy this record in outer space or through the Ars Nova Workshop website. BTW: the deep synth bass on "The Hills" may have your neighbors running for them!
