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
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