Sun Ra Arkestra - Living Sky

The Quietus

Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra released Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy in 1967 in order to promote healing. The band name was temporary, following on from Sun-Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra and later the Le Sun Ra and his Cosmo Discipline Arkestra among many others. But the concept of music as a functionary and utilitarian resource wasn’t particularly widespread at the time. Sounds designed to sooth are hitherto ubiquitous, and music itself is tap-like in its usability.

Only Marshall Allen is still around from those sessions where he played alto sax and “astro space drums”, though fifty-five years later, the world could certainly do with some more healing. At the behest of Omni Sound’s Ahmet Ulug, who came out of retirement to found the New York / Istanbul label on which Living Sky is the inaugural release, Allen and eighteen other musicians including string players went into a studio in Philadelphia last June to record an album of cosmic tones in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s the Arkestra’s second outing without their titular leader, who relocated to Saturn twenty-seven years ago, and like 2020’s Swirling, this does justice to his remarkable legacy and is a fine addition to an unfathomably vast discography.

Where Swirling took steps forwards with one eye on the past, Living Sky is less overtly avant garde than its predecessor, and if the spirit and concept harks back to the aforementioned record from 1967, then the music here is grounded more in the 1950s big band version of Sun Ra, especially on tracks like ‘Firefly’. That said, the whole sound is also undoubtedly augmented with wild brushstrokes of astral whimsy throughout.

The much-loved ‘Somebody Else’s Idea’, first recorded with June Tyson in 1955, gets a run out here, as does Ra’s ‘Chopin’ jam. Elsewhere there’s a woozy cover of ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’, and the near title track ‘Day Of The Living Sky’ floats on a cosmic soundbed of plucked zither instruments. Though perhaps the highlight is ‘Marshall’s Groove’, which stretches itself sonically over an insouciant, walking double bass with percussion accompaniment, at least until the indomitable Allen, who hopefully celebrates his ninety-ninth entry day next May, takes the whole thing up a notch as other brass players pile on.

That Sun Ra’s music perseveres even beyond the lifespan of its founder might raise a bone of contention with some, but the Arkestra is not like other bands. As one of the key founders of Afrofuturism, Herman “Sonny” Blount brought much more to the world than simply a band. The Arkestra is a proto-Black Power movement and a philosophy in itself that transcends mere death and, Ra willing, it will outlive us all. In the meanwhile, Living Sky brings balm to the world even after the lowering of the Sun.

Share this article:

Pitchfork

Read Larry Blumenfeld’s review of the album.

The Free Jazz Collective 0

By Martin Schray

The new album of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Living Sky, follows last year’s album Swirling, which was the Arkestra’s first new studio release in 21 years. Musically, the new album is close to its predecessor. It continues a process of carrying on Sun Ra’s legacy while reimagining it. Of course, no one plays like Ra, the piano parts are different, and his synthesizer is gone as well, which takes away the otherworldliness of the music. Additionally, the excessive use of polyrhythms, the sheer percussion tornadoes are pushed into the background. More central is the swing (even under Ra, the Arkestra has repeatedly played jazz classics from the swing and bebop eras), transcendentalism and melody.

The Arkestra’s leader, 98-year-old Marshall Allen, who has been familiar with Ra’s music for more than 60 years, embodies this gentle change most obviously. On “Chopin“ (based on Frédéric Chopin’s “Prélude in A Major“), his alto saxophone counters the slow-moving melody with squealing, slinking and and screeching sounds, backed by Vincent Chancey’s heartfelt French horn. This new version moves in juicy ups and downs while also humming and slowing down into a kind of Arkestra-esque lullaby. As throughout the album, there are subtle shifts of foreground and background: alternating muted trumpets and sweet-sounding strings, flutes, a kora (a harp-like instrument), guitars and well-tempered horn sections move like a caravan through the Sahara.

Several pieces on Living Space have already been recorded by the old Arkestra under Sun Ra. Besides “Chopin“, the opener, also “Somebody's Else’s Idea“, though the old versions sound harder, the theme was a chant, sung by June Tyson with declarative power, that focuses on self-empowerment and afrofuturism. On Living Space, it’s an instrumental that sways leisurely, with baritone saxophonist Knoell Scott at the center, singing the theme wordlessly over shifting tones. “Wish Upon A Star“, the final piece, is also not new, though it hasn’t been recorded under Ra but was released on Music for the 21st Century in 2003 under Allen’s direction. Structurally, it ties in nicely with “Chopin“, a perfect bookend for the album.

Other pieces, however, are new, such as “Day of the Living Sky“. Here Allen plays the kora, the aforementioned harp-like instrument. However, he does not use it for flowing lines as in traditional West African music, his style is rather reminiscent of a thumb piano. In general, the leitmotif of Living Space is a relaxed atmosphere, which is repeatedly roughened by Allen’s saxophone. The swaying swing rhythms structure the music. A good example is “Firefly“, a beautiful ballad delightfully jumbled by dissonant harmony strings and solo strands from Allen’s alto sax.

All in all, Living Space is a beautiful Arkestra album, on which Ra’s ideas are ever present - hidden beneath the surface or floating above the melodies. For just under an hour, this album also opens a musical door into the universe without revealing its secrets. The Sun Ra Arkestra not only swings, it is also funky. Even in the freest passages, the ensemble plays precisely like a clockwork - even if it certainly ticks according to different meters than the usual timekeeping.

Living Space is available on vinyl, CD and as a download.

You can listen to it here:

  Living Sky by Sun Ra Arkestra