Marshall Allen
Albums
The All-Star Game indeed. This 73-minute jam in six parts is the aural document of a gig held at the ICA in London in December of 2000. The lineup that champion [more]
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Appearances
Pianist Paul Bley's early ESP free jazz session combines the influence of the Jazz Composer's Guild with Ornette Coleman. On Barrage, Bley is joined by alto saxophonist Marshall Allen [more]
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Sun Ra and his Intergalaxtic Arkestra's Second Star to the Right: Salute to Walt Disney goes way beyond novelty. Novelties are hardly this [more]
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This two-CD set (reissued from a triple LP) is by no means indispensable Sun Ra, but it does give a sense of what the Arkestra sounded like live in the mid-1980s. All the excesses are [more]
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Sun Ra (organ/electric vibraphone/space instruments/synthesizer/vocals) and his Intergalactic Space Research Arkestra are captured live in October of 1973 on this essential [more]
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The All-Star Game indeed. This 73-minute jam in six parts is the aural document of a gig held at the ICA in London in December of 2000. The lineup that champion [more]
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If you already own the original El Saturn label LP by Sun Ra bearing this title, you will still desire a copy of this item from ESP-Disk for several [more]
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Soul Jazz has done it again. This two-disc, 16-track overview of the "New Thing" -- vanguard jazz in the period that began after the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Coltrane [more]
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![Secrets of the Sun [Bonus Track]](/cache/JHS/l6/130x130_on-sale_l68234xinzr.png)
Secrets of the Sun consists of sessions recorded by drummer Tommy "Bugs" Hunter in 1962 at the Choreographer's Workshop in New York City, the Arkestra's regular rehearsal [more]
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Biography
- Born May 25th 1924 in Louisville, KY
A longtime member of Sun Ra's Arkestra, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen later assumed leadership of the group following the deaths of Ra and his immediate successor, John Gilmore. He was also a regular collaborator of Babatunde Olatunji, in the process emerging as one of the first jazz musicians to fuse the avant-garde with traditional African music.
Allen was born May 25, 1924, in Louisville, KY, beginning clarinet lessons at the age of ten. After enlisting with the U.S. Army's renowned Buffalo Soldiers in 1942, he played clarinet and alto saxophone with the 17th Division Special Service Band, subsequently forming a trio with pianist Art Simmons and guitarist Don Byas while stationed in Paris. After spending the late '40s touring and recording behind James Moody, Allen studied at the Paris Conservatory of Music before returning stateside in 1951, settling in Chicago and forming his own dance band. He also began writing his first original compositions.
Circa 1956, Allen met Sun Ra, joining the pianist's legendary Arkestra two years later. He would go on to lead its reed section for more than four decades, over time earning renown as one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era. In tandem with tenorist Gilmore and baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick, Allen played on more than 200 Sun Ra recordings. He also developed his own reed instrument (dubbed the "morrow") by attaching a saxophone mouthpiece to an open-hole wooden body but failed to patent his creation, which is now commercially available under different names.
Whenever the Arkestra went on hiatus, Allen moonlighted with Olatunji and his Drums of Passion, even learning to build and play the West African multi-stringed instrument the kora; he also guested on live dates and recordings headlined by a multitude of next-generation musicians, including jam band Phish, avant rock combo Sonic Youth, and hip-hop upstarts Digable Planets. When Sun Ra died in 1993, the Arkestra's reins were handed to Gilmore, who himself passed away two years later; at that point Allen assumed control, leading the 18-piece ensemble well into the next millennium. In addition to giving master classes, lectures, and demonstrations of Sun Ra's enduring creative principles, Allen also founded the El Ra label, home to such latter-day Arkestra recordings as A Song for the Sun and Music for the 21st Century. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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