jazztokyo.com/live-report

http://jazztokyo.com/live-report/v222/v222.html

少し遅れたが、去る５月２４日に行われた“サン・ラ＝アーケストラ”によるマーシャル・アレン（１９５８年入団）の８５歳誕生日を祝ったコンサートを紹介したい。「一度は、見ておかないと」程度の軽い気持ちで出かけたのだが、期待以上に満足させてくれた“楽しい”コンサートだった。

アレンは、サン・ラが、１９９３年に「宇宙に帰った」後を引き継いだジョン・ギルモアが他界した１９９５年よりアーケストラのディレクターを務めて現在に至っている。

コンサートが行われた“Johnny Brenda's”（www.johnnybrendas.com）は、ジャズというよりロック・クラブで、彼らの本拠地フィラデルフィアにある。勝手に黒人中心の客層を想像していたが、実際は八割強が白人だった。年齢層は、大学生ぐらいから中高年まで、幅広かった。

＄２でオーダーした、味の薄い地ビールを飲みながら待っていると、ギッシリと楽器が並べられた余り大きくないステージに、続々とメンバーが登場。現アーケストラのラインアップは流動的な様であるが、このコンサートは以下のメンバーで行われた：

Marshall Allen - alto sax, flute, Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI) 
Yah Yah Abdul-Majid - tenor sax
Knoel Scott - alto sax 
Danny Ray Thompson - baritone sax 
Fred Adams － trumpet 
Michael Ray － trumpet
Cecil Brooks - trumpet
Dave Davis - trombone, french horn, tuba
Farid Barron － keyboard 
Dave Hotep － guitar
Juini Booth - electric bass
Bill Davis - acoustic bass
Wayne A. Smith, Jr. - drums
Lamont Smith - conga drum
Elson Nascimento - surdo drum

今では「伝説」となっている１９８８年日本初公演以降に参加したメンバーに混じって、ビル・デイビス（１９６２年入団）、ダニー・トンプソン（１９６７年入団）、ジュイニ・ブース（１９６７年入団）等のベテラン勢も健在だ。

マネージャーのグレッグ・ドゥラスドウ氏のご好意により以下のセット・リストを入手する事ができた：

第１セット

Take Off
Planet Earth
Dreams Come True
Prelude to a Kiss
Discipline 27-II
Sometimes I'm Happy
East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Millennium
Space Walk
Angels & Demons at Play

第２セット

Improv Opening
In-B-Tween
Body & Soul
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
Love in Outer Space
Blue Set (with Happy Birthday to Marshall)
Reflex Motion
When You Wish Upon a Star
Interplanetary Music
Fate in a Pleasant Mood
We Travel the Spaceways

一般的なアーケストラのイメージに近いノイジーな前衛系やファンキーなスペース・ジャズの他、スインギーなスタンダード、シットリとしたバラードがバランス良く配列され飽きさせなかった。しかし、選曲の面白さ以上にバンドの“イキ”の良さが印象に残った。そして、マーシャル・アレンの統率力や「本当に８５歳？」と疑ってしまうほどの“ミズミズしい”演奏やステージングも素晴らしかった。

Sun Ra Events at Philly ICA Museum in July

The staff of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Museum in
Philadelphia have scheduled an exciting series of Wednesday evening
events in July, each of which are Sun Ra related. This is in support
of the Sun Ra Museum exhibit at the ICA in Philadelphia running
through August 2, 2009. All of the below events on July 8, 15, 22, &
29, 2009 are free and open to the public at the ICA Museum, 118 South
36th Street, Philadelphia, PA. Following the Wednesday, July 1
spectacular featuring the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of
Marshall Allen, the events will be:

Wednesday, July 8 @ 7:00 pm:

John Szwed - A lecture by the biographic expert on all things Ra

Hear a lecture by John Szwed, the biographic expert on all things Ra.
Mr. Szwed is the author of "Space Is The Place: The Lives and Times of
Sun Ra" (Da Capo Press, 1998). He is an anthropologist, musicologist,
and historian who teaches at Columbia University. Mr Szwed has
authored many significant books covering the personalities and
artistry of jazz. Those who have previously heard John Szwed lecture
on Sun Ra will tell you that this is a not to be missed event that
will include anecdotes, insights, and information that surround the
mystery of Sun Ra.

Wednesday, July 15 @ 7:00 pm:

Outdoor Double Feature: "Brother From Another Planet" and "A Joyful
Noise" curated by Jesse Pires

The 2005 documentary "Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet" was made by
director Don Letts for the BBC. This 59 minute film has only been
screened once before in the USA and this is its Philadelphia Premiere.
Don Letts, the legendary London DJ who introduced reggae and ska to a
generation of punk rockers, delves into the mysterious world of Sun Ra
in this British, made-for-television documentary. Sun Ra biographer
John Szwed, musician Archie Schepp, and members of Sun Ra's Arkestra
discuss the life and work of one of jazz music's pre-eminent pioneers.
For the uninitiated, "Brother From Another Planet" is a great
introduction to Sun Ra, and for Sun Ra devotees, it is required
viewing.

The 1980 documentary "Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise" was made by director
Robert Mugge, who will be in attendance at this screening and he will
give an introduction to this film. Consisting of explosive live
footage of the Sun Ra Arkestra and fascinating interviews with the man
himself, "A Joyful Noise" is the complete Sun Ra experience. Filmed
in and around Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. when the Arkestra was
living in Germantown, Robert Mugge's documentary captures the group at
the height of its creative powers. Each live performance featured in
the film further illustrates the distinctive alchemy Sun Ra was able
to create with his disciplined band. Ra makes his case for a better
world through music, transcending banal, earthbound realities to
produce a strange and fascinating aesthetic fusing ancient history
with future visions.

Wednesday, July 22 @ 7:00 pm:

Saturn Never Sleeps: Sun-Ra: Lectric a night curated by King Britt and
Rucyl Mills

Saturn Never Sleeps is a carefully curated electronic experience,
created by music producer, King Britt and singer/visualist, Rucyl
Mills combining audio-visual micro-components into a thought altering
world of sight and sound. Live musicians of acoustic and electronic
inventions come together in creating the sonic bubblebath for your
listening pleasure. Visuals add the dimension needed to transport you
into a different place. For this special mission, we are dedicating
the night to reconstructing, in an improvisational way, the sounds of
jazz legend and fellow dreamer, Sun-Ra.

King Britt (electronics), Rucyl Mills (vocals & sampling), Tim Motzer
(guitartronics), Damon Bennet (keyboards & flute), Jason Senk
(visuals), and some very special guests.

Together we will be reducing Sun Ra sounds into a new context while
combining with works by artists influenced by him as well into a night
of vision!

Wednesday, July 29 @ 7:00 pm:

Death's Headquarters: In Celebration of Le Sony'Ra: curated by Ars Nova Wor=
kshop

Featuring performances by two local groups in the avant-garde spirit
of Ra and the Arkestra: Planet Y and Sonic Liberation Front.

"To save the planet, I had to go to the worst spot on Earth, and that
was Philadelphia, which was death's headquarters." -Sun Ra

An expanded 12-member Sonic Liberation Front, the Philadelphia
ensemble acclaimed for their iconoclastic combination of Free Jazz
passion and Afro-Cuban percussion, will premiere =93Jetway Confidential
No.3 (for Sun Ra)=94, a new composition dedicated to Sun Ra and
commissioned specifically for this performance, and perform an
arrangement of Sun Ra=92s =93Where Pathways Meet=94 from 1978=92s "Languidi=
ty"
recording, which featured saxophonist and SLF member Julian Pressley.
This evening will also feature a very rare appearance from Planet Y -
Buchla Music Easel master Charles Cohen and Stinking Lizaveta=92s Yanni
Papadopoulos, best described as "Subotnick meets Sun Ra meets
Schnitzler.=94 (Aquarius Records) In addition, newly-unearthed archival
films will be projected on the gallery walls.

Planet Y: Yanni Papadopoulos (dg-20 Casio digital guitar), Charles
Cohen (Buchla Music Easel)

Sonic Liberation Front: Todd Margasak (cornet), Terry Lawson (tenor
saxophone/flute), Dan Scofield (alto saxophone), Julian Pressley (alto
saxophone), Brent White (trombone), dmHotep (guitar), Travis Woodson
(guitar), Matt Engle (double-bass), Chuck Joseph (Bata drums/drumkit),
Shawn "Dade" Beckett (Bata drums/percussion),
Khari Clemmons (Bata drums), Kevin Diehl (Bata drums/drumkit).

Led by percussionist Kevin Diehl, a protege of Free Jazz pioneer Sunny
Murray, Sonic Liberation Front merges post-bop with traditional
Afro-Cuban Yoruba roots music. While other ensembles have merged Bata
drumming and jazz, none have done it with the vigor of SLF. The band
members are true students of the Lukumi tradition under the guidance
of percussionist/omo ana Chuckie Joseph, a lifelong Yoruba cultural
scholar. It=92s been said a million times that all music originates in
West Africa =AD and by returning the focus to its origins, SLF achieves
a natural eclectism that serves as a fountain of ingenuity. Ancient to
the future, indeed. For this special performance, an expanded 12-piece
SLF performs featuring some of the most notable names in
Philadelphia=92s exploratory music scene including members of the Sun Ra
Arkestra, Make A RIsing, and Shot x Shot.

Sun Ra chronicled in film, lectures & more [philly.com]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090629_Sun_Ra_chronicled_in_film__lectures___more.html

Sun Ra chronicled in film, lectures & more
Posted on Mon, Jun. 29, 2009
By Shaun Brady

A variety of events celebrating the singular world of jazz musician Sun Ra are being held at the Institute of Contemporary Art (118 S. 36th St., 215-898-7108, www.icaphila.org) to celebrate the exhibit "Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968," which runs through Aug. 2.

Admission to all events is free.

John Szwed: Lecture by the author of "Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra." (July 8, 7 p.m.)

Outdoor Double Feature: Screenings of the 2005 documentary "Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet" and the hourlong 1980 film "A Joyful Noise," which includes footage from the Arkestra house in Germantown. (July 15, 7 p.m.)

Saturn Never Sleeps: A sonic and visual collage created by King Britt using snippets of Sun Ra music and live experimentation. (July 22, 7 p.m.)

Death's Headquarters: In Celebration of Le Sony'r Ra: Curated by Ars Nova Workshop, performances by two local groups in the avant-garde spirit of Ra and the Arkestra: Planet Y, the duo of Charles Cohen and Yanni Papadopoulos; and Sonic Liberation Front, a 12-piece ensemble combining free jazz with Afro-Cuban percussion. (July 29, 7 p.m.)

In the beginning: Sun Ra. New exhibit explores origins of his music & personal creativity. [philly.com]

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20090629_In_the_beginning.html

In the beginning: Sun Ra New exhibit explores origins of his music & personal creativity

By SHAUN BRADY Philadelphia Daily News For the Daily News Posted on Mon, Jun. 29, 2009

IN THE OPENING scene of the 1974 film "Space Is the Place," jazz iconoclast Sun Ra sits in a fanciful extraterrestrial garden, decked out in Egyptian-inspired headdress and robes, and bemoans the sound of planet Earth as "the sound of guns, anger, frustration."

His proposal is to create a "colony for black people" on this new planet, a Utopian second chance. He ends by deciding to "teleport the whole planet here through music."

The scene captures, fully formed, Ra's idiosyncratic worldview, a unique philosophy blending science fiction, black power, mysticism, mythology and, of course, music.

"Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968," an exhibit on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art through Aug. 2, captures Ra's ideas in their developmental stages. Curated by journalist and jazz critic John Corbett, the show collects artifacts, memorabilia and artwork from Ra's years in Chicago and New York, before the move to what would be come his Arkestra's permanent home in Philadelphia.

"This body of work really represents the formative years of Sun Ra," Corbett explained during a tour of the exhibit. "It spans the period when he developed this persona, this myth-science as he called it, that was very invested in an exploration of space and its relevance for African-Americans as a concrete metaphor.

"By the time he settled in Philadelphia, the persona was more or less set, so this material allows us to look at how he began to construct this identity."

Sun Ra and His Arkestra have long struggled to claim their rightful place in jazz history. Ra's bizarre pronouncements, colorful costumes and sci-fi preoccupations, along with the band's at times chaotic sound, have led many to dismiss the Arkestra as a sideshow, a novelty act.

But rather than the comic-book spectacle that some critics would make it out to be, Ra's personal reinvention was deeply rooted in the troubled times in which he lived.

Born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Ala., in 1914, Ra's name change and claims to hail from Saturn were as much a repudiation of the segregation-era South as they were an attempt at self-mythologizing. His wish to colonize an Afrocentric planet could be viewed as a fantastical analog to the Back to Africa movement.

But Ra's ideas weren't all flights of fancy. As Corbett pointed out during the tour, Ra's Saturn Records was one of the first artist-run record labels.

"This was the birth of the independent music industry, which we now take as a matter of course," Corbett said. "The idea was very rooted in a local grassroots, Afrocentric community of black businesses and designers. They pulled people into the fold to make fliers for shows, to design things for them, to come up with this look that began to incorporate the mixture of space, the Bible and apocalypse, ideas that Sun Ra was leading them to explore."

The fact that this was a venture into the DIY unknown is illustrated by the fact that several sketches and even full designs for album covers on display fail to conform to the square dimensions of an actual LP.

One of the most remarkable objects in the exhibit is a pencil-and-paper collage labeled "Treasure Map for El Saturn," a blueprint for Ra's hopes both practical and fanciful. Amidst sketches of the continents and hieroglyphs are plans for a radio station and recording studio, plus 10,000 acres of land, space for apartments and hotels, "money to fight ignorance" and "food for the hungry."

"It shows his notion of how Saturn Records was going to spread around the world and enlighten everyone on the planet," Corbett said. "That was Sun Ra's stated purpose. He was very concerned about the state of the world in the mid-1950s, both in terms of race issues and in terms of the neglect of beauty."

The collage was created by Alton Abraham, Ra's longtime friend and manager, whose collection makes up the bulk of the exhibit. Corbett salvaged the material after Abraham's death in 1999, when it was threatened with destruction. The exhibit ranges from original art for album covers to business cards, broadsides that Ra handed out on Chicago street corners, even a Christmas card wishing "Better life vibrations" for the holiday season.

While the exhibit cuts off in 1968, the year that Ra moved to the house on Morton Street in Germantown that still serves as home base for the Arkestra, the bandleader's 25-year residence in the city until his death in 1993 makes Philly a logical site for the show.

"There's no place more logical for it to be than here in Philadelphia," Corbett said. "This is the place that Sun Ra finally felt comfortable enough to stay."

Today, the Arkestra is led by alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who joined the band in the late 1950s during the period represented by the exhibit. Allen reminisced recently about being introduced to Ra's philosophy and how it changed him as a musician and as a human being.

"In the early stages, he had to first change the musicians' and the people's ideas," Allen said. "So whatever he did with those things that you see, he had a bigger job convincing people to open their minds to the space age and independence and creativity. That was hard for musicians with a traditional way of playing, and that was the biggest work of his career, changing the musicians to play his idea of things to come."

Allen will lead the Arkestra in a performance at the ICA on July 1, the first of a series of events coinciding with the exhibit. Upcoming events include a lecture by Ra biographer John Szwed on July 8; a screening of the films "Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet" and "A Joyful Noise" on July 15; a sonic and visual collage by King Britt on July 22; and performances by Sonic Liberation Front and Planet Y curated by Ars Nova Workshop on July 29.

"When you're younger you dream about you can fly or you can jump 90 feet," Allen said. "But in reality, you have to develop yourself like an athlete. It's the same in the music."

Allen is now confronting the challenges once faced by his mentor as the Arkestra's maestro, a position he's held since 1997.

"It's a good feeling to look back at the beginning and see things when you didn't quite understand them," Allen said of viewing the exhibit.

"It's wonderful to see those things and know that I still got a job ahead of me."

1982 NME Strange Celestial Road Review

Sun Ra Arkestra Live Dates Summer 2009

http://www.as220.org/front/2009/06/foo-fest-coming-soon.html

July 1st. Philadelphia, PA, Institute of Contemporary Art
July 4th. Lisbon, Portugal, Setubal/Arrabida World Music festival.
July 10th. Vienne, France, Jazz a Vienne Festival.
July 30th. Sardinia, Italy, Cala Gonone Jazz Festival.
August 1st. Standon, U.K., Standon Calling Festival Poster
August 15th. Providence, Rhode Island, AS220 Festival
Sept. 26th. Durham, NC, Duke University
Oct. 31st. Philadelphia, PA, International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut street, PA 19104

A Wonderful Live Sun Ra Image