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| 0 | LONDON: Cafe Oto |
|---|---|
| P | Monday 5th July, 2010 |
| N | 8:00pm |
Come and see one of the most influential big-bands of all time dip into their vast back catalog Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Arkestra are coming close to being our house band! In April when Europe was engulfed in volcanic ash the Arkestra played an extraordinary residency.
What was originally programmed as a three nighter developed into a five-night epic as they waited for the ash to settle around them. Any one who attended one or more of those nights will know they are not to missed.
Sun Ra was one of the greatest and least known jazz artists of the last four decades, whose influence on diverse musicians is little known to the general public. A pianist and band leader, his style ranged from retro swing to avant free, and often in the same piece. His band could play a swinging Gershwin tune and almost imperceptibly soar into their free cosmic equational tones as if they possessed a single mind.
Ra was a keyboard improviser of great originality, but his foremost talent was for inspiring and teaching creative musicians to improvise freely but together. This tension between freedom and coherence was something he explored with abundant energy and skill.
Sun Ra died in 1993. The Arkestra performs today, under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen.
