Sun Ra Arkestra (May 2016) live in Dalston

 

On a Saturday evening in May 2016, Space came to Dalston, London E8.
Marshall Allen, 92, on alto and a reed-based synthesiser that produced space noises straight out of Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still, and Robbie The Robot, Forbidden Planet. Marshall  carries the long line of legitimacy to Sun Ra, the denizens of the Spaceways, and brothers from Saturn. We are all now post-terrestrial.

Forget Brixton, forget Hackney, LJC goes post-Shoreditchification onto the front line to uber-trendy gender-fluid Dalston, to see the Sun Ra Arkestra in performance. In an intimate setting, getting close up with my new Canon EF 50mm f1.2L lens on its first outing. Another first, a gig review from LJC.

From tenor-player Knoel Scott’s introduction (ages from memory are approximate!):

Greetings from Sun Ra, would now be  112 years old (Audience: Yeah!!) , Marshall Allen, 92 years old (Yeah!!!), The Arkestra, 69 years old.. (Yeah!!!!)

This to an audience average age 22, and that average heavily skewed upwards by the presence of three oldies: Man-in-a-Shed, Mr Speaker!, plus LJC behind the camera. Here’s the concert bill – a four-session weekender where “avant-garde legends preform, live!!!” Spelling is optional. The Arkestra are a long way from home:

Creative headware obligatory, all the multiple-masks of post-modern persona: beanie hats, beards, ethnic accessories. All the youth tribes: new hippies, cyber-punks, space-goths, nerds, vintage-style-surfers, hispters (protected-status! hipster-dyslectics), and to be honest, probably mostly just students. But they looked good. Conformist tribes of my youth – mods, rockers, skinheads – seem to have given way to total eclecticism, and they look great.

Marshall Allen, a  spritely gnomic-caped figure on the stage, trades his weird-synth for alto sax, and indulges in some real playing, you can tell, still coming at you: remarkable.

The audience really wanted a groove with some weirdness thrown in, and The Arkestra were happy to oblige. Visually fascinating, a perfect evening for experience-hungry youth rather than Sun Ra true believers. Knoel Scott blowing mean tenor, as close as it got to “jazz” for the evening.

“Hello Dalston! No-one from Saturn in tonight eh?” (How would you tell?)

Knoel carefully looked after Marshall, making sure he was alright, fixing minor problems with his mike, and anchoring the set with theatrical aplomb.

Danny Ray, another long serving member of the Arkestra, a perfect legacy to Pat Patrick’s baritone, with lots of spacey flute thrown in. Danny exuded dignity and steadfastness, his bari wonderfully throaty and pungent, switching to flutes-in-space as required.

The music selection came mostly from the Heliocentric Worlds period, and Marshall had sheafs of paper with musical notation, and everyone had music stands. Not that the audience cared, they were experience-surfing, not music critics. They came to have a good time, and they did.

Passing Clouds venue offered only a tiny bandstand, pushing some members of The Arkestra into a near- invisible back row. In that back row, some one on trumpet, not sure of the name, and the cat with the hat on percussion, left. Next to them out of shot, a cat on trombone, Craig Harris.

Space-hooded  D. Hotep, guitarist, kept the vibe strong, jangling away and generally looking in role, bathed in purple light.

Now I’m guessing – Tara Middleton? Vocals, assorted percussion effects, and all-round Saturn ethno-print wear, very  physical presence, not one I associate with Sun Ra, but good with the “Space is The Place” chants.

Tucked well into the back on double bass and lots of green shiny sequins, I think Tyler Mitchel but again I’m guessing. Great acoustic bass playing, sweat from the pores.

Danny Ray closes the performance to audience appreciation, as Marshall and the boys file off the tiny stage and perform a space-conga winding through the gathered audience and off to the band room, to prepare for the second performance of the evening. Danny got the task of selling the cd of their latest Arkestra album at the exit, as the crowd filed out into the early evening light.

Back to the Dalston Passing Clouds evening second performance queue. A slightly older crowd, men-who-wear-jeans, beanie-hats and hoods, may be average age 25? All hipsters must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Us old guys headed for home.

Any corrections welcome, I am not an Arkestra follower except for the late ’50s, but I enjoyed the performance and more important so did the youngsters. I enjoyed the photography. The membership of the Arkestra seems changing, I’ll leave you with what I would have love to have heard, my personal Sun Ra anthem: Enlightenment

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Now that’s what I call Sun Ra music, beautiful, the brothers of Saturn would be proud. Makes a change from musty old records no? Back with more music soon.

All photos copyright LJC, expand to full screen.

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