Sun Ra Arkestra

• LIMITED AUDIOPHILE SIGNATURE EDITION

• DOUBLE 180 GRAM VIRGIN VINYL

• GATEFOLD EDITION

• HAND-NUMBERED

• LIMITED TO 1999 COPIES WORLDWIDE

Celebrating the centenary of inimitable African American composer/keyboardist Sun Ra’s birth, and the memory of pioneering Turkish jazz promoter Mehmet Ulug, In + Out Records caught this gig at Istanbul’s Babylon Club.

The mix of 1930s swing and furious free-blowing is as powerful as ever and the singing as approximate, the otherworldly references teeter between amiable hokum and profound criticism of humanity’s foibles. Solemn mystical/political intonations give way to drum eruptions (there are three percussionists), punchy riffs, traffic-jam honkings and free-sax squeals that boil and bubble.

The straight-boppish piano intro to Saturn (from the excellent Farid Barron), becomes a swaggering swinger, Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust is a pretty straight vocal from Tara Middleton that becomes a slow-drag band melody and an almost-capsized finale, Dancing Shadows is fast and cacophonic with a spacey free section in the middle and impassioned alto/tenor sax exchanges at the close. It’s an engagingly faithful representation of Arkestra’s live shows under veteran saxophonist Marshall Allen’s current direction. - The Guardian

PERSONNEL:

• Marshall Allen (director, alto sax, vocals)
• Tara Middelton (vocals)
• Cecil Brooks (trumpet)
• Vincent Chancey (flugelhorn)
• Dave Davis (trombone)
• Knoel Scott (alto saxophone, vocals)
• James Stuart (tenor saxophone)
• Danny Ray Thompson (baritone saxophone)
• Farid Barron (piano)
• Dave Hotep (guitar)
• Tyler Mitchell (bass)
• Stanley Morgan (congas, percussion)
• Elson Nascimento (surdo, percussion)
• Wayne Anthony Smith Jr. (drums)

Recorded at Babylon Club, Istanbul, Turky, May 21 2014

TRACKS:

• SIDE A
• A1. Astro Black .... 02:31
• A2. RA #2 .......... 10:00
• A3. Saturn ......... 08:01

• SIDE B
• B1. Discipline 27B ...11:44
• B2. Stardust ........ 12:24

• SIDE C
• C1. Care Free #2 ...... 10:03
• C2. Sometimes I´m Happy...10:48

• SIDE D
• D1. Dancing Shadows ......11:34
• D2. Satellites Are Spinning... 11:20