The writer Greg Tate has died at the age of 64

The distinguished US music writer Greg Tate has died at the age of 64, No cause of death has been given. His work encompassed hip-hop culture, jazz and so much more. Tate wrote for the Village Voice, Vibe and Spin among other publications and was an …

Published: 8 Dec 2021. Updated: 2 years.

The distinguished US music writer Greg Tate has died at the age of 64, No cause of death has been given. His work encompassed hip-hop culture, jazz and so much more. Tate wrote for the Village Voice, Vibe and Spin among other publications and was an early chronicler of hip-hop in the 1980s. He placed hip-hop among the avant-garde, jazz and broader black culture in his thinking and his books included Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience and most famously collected writings from the Voice titled Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America which was published in 1992. He was also a member of the Black Rock Coalition from the beginning and as a musician played in the sprawling big band Burnt Sugar which we caught live in 2006 at a festival in Finland. Last year Tate co-curated an exhibition on Basquiat and hip-hop for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

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Tyler Mitchell album Dancing Shadows featuring Marshall Allen is a January release

There can't be many 97-year-olds releasing jazz albums. Remarkably the Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen is and the saxophonist is on the surprisingly accessible bassist Tyler Mitchell Mahakala Music release Dancing Shadows which is a fabulous …

Published: 7 Dec 2021. Updated: 2 years.

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There can't be many 97-year-olds releasing jazz albums. Remarkably the Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen is and the saxophonist is on the surprisingly accessible bassist Tyler Mitchell Mahakala Music release Dancing Shadows which is a fabulous riff-heavy ultra loose sextet album to be released in January.

The album includes 'Interstellar Low Ways' going back to a 1966 Saturn label release and a Sun Ra composition which has appeared on several records including going back to the 1970s the Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra's 1974 release for Impulse Angels And Demons At Play.

Dancing Shadows also includes a version of Thelonious Monk composition 'Skippy' that goes back to 1952.

Mitchell became part of the Sun Ra Arkestra story in the 1980s hooking up again with the Arkestra in more recent years. Sun Ra fans may know Mitchell from the Reflections in Blue and Hours After albums.

Also on the upcoming record are Chris Hemingway on tenor sax, Nicoletta Manzini, alto, Wayne Smith on drums and Elson Nascimento on percussion.

Marshall goes back as far as 1958 with the Sun Ra Arkestra. The upcoming album includes melodic themes and free-wheeling invigorating excursions and includes some Mitchell compositions and some by altoist Nicoletta Manzini who Allen has championed. Marshall Allen top left and Tyler Mitchell