Sun Ra first boarded the Arkestra in the fifties, and it remained the vessel for his pioneering, explorative space trips in Jazz music up to his death in 1993. From there on in, the collective continued with long-time members John Gilmore and then, including this current release, Marshall Allen at the helm. They were able to do this because for decades the Arkestra evolved into an ever-changing, living, breathing rocket ship of a unit, one of very few in music history that could be described as truly eclectic and in a constant state of evolution. This all grew from the Jazz approach of Sun Ra himself, who could shape a sound that had echoes of Traditional Jazz, New Orleans, Classical Progressions, free Modal experimentation, Electronic fusion and the most far-out Space-Electro beyond the realms of your imagination; to add another dimension they often presented themselves dressed in futuristic attire also. That the Sun Ra Arkestra have been an impenetrable, radical, impossible-to-pin-down project is an understatement and consequently, to the casual observer, saddled them with a reputation for difficult, complex music. Give them time and attention however and nothing could be further from the truth. Often lost among the overwhelming onslaught of visuals, interlocking music styles, and innovation is that the Arkestra have on many occasions produced some of the most beautiful Jazz music of our lifetimes and that mode of Arkestra is at the forefront on ‘Living Sky.’
Marshall Allen is aged ninety-eight now, but it is clear that he still possesses the flaming life force that has fired the Arkestra for over twenty years. It was Marshall who received from the founder of the new Omni Sound label, Ahmet Ulug, a commission for a post-pandemic instrumental recording. Ulug had history with Sun Ra thanks to his promotion work and wanted to reach back to the music that had first fired his love of Jazz and improvisation. He was looking for work that is “spiritual, hypnotic and to that effect down tempo, melodic and grooving.” In summary, Ahmet sought “music that is accessible and healing in the Covid era.” So, in order to realise that vision, Marshall Allen has put together a wholly cohesive hour-long collection of unified music that comprises both his own original compositions, standards, Sun Ra pieces re-imagined and classical evolutions familiar to the Sun Ra canon, albeit in quite different past lives. Essentially, the ambition has been fully achieved on a record recorded on 15th June 2021 in Philadelphia and featuring a total of nineteen musicians.
The scene is set with ‘Chopin,’ which Ra had previously scattered across a few live recordings. It is a bold progression on a Chopin miniature that opens with stately, solo piano pitter-patters allowing for the full range of the Arkestra to ease their way in piece by piece. Hypnotic it certainly is, and it sets a mode and tempo that easily waves back and forth throughout the record. This is one of those albums that you should not dip in and out of; experience this as a whole and embrace, just as Arkestra themselves advise, the possibilities of the infinite.
The album concludes with ‘Wish Upon A Star’ which similarly anchors the familiar whilst cutting the piece loose into uncertain, questing territories. In between it is all about the interplay between the excursions of Marshall Allen and those that Sun Ra himself used as a launch pad. For example, Allen’s ‘Day Of The Living Sky’ chimes with Ra’s ‘Night Of The Living Sky’ and both are extensively explored, squeezing out every last drop of cosmic juice they have to offer. Marshall’s piece especially seems to elevate with the sunlight chords of his kora playing. Equally enchanting is ‘Somebody Else’s Idea,’ a piece that dates back to 1955 and here absolutely thrives as an instrumental; hang your hat on the repetitive figure played by the horns while all around instruments launch mini comets of boundless, piercing exploration. That is how the whole of ‘Living Sky’ succeeds, in fact, as music that is so sublime to just bathe in and as you soak it up, the intricacies and delicacies of the many layers of detail slowly unfold and shower the listener in pure interplanetary wonder. A sensational piece of work, the Sun Ra Arkestra sail ever onward into the stars and beyond.