Personnel: Michael Ray-tp, voc; Fred Adams, David Gordon-tp; Tyrone Hill, Dave Davis, Dick Griffin-tb; Marshall Allen-as, fl, arr; Noël Scott-as; Ya Ya Abdul Majid-ts; Charles Davis-bs; Damon Choice-vbs; Bruce Edwards-eg; John Ore-b; Luqman Ali-d; Elson Nascimento-surdo, perc; Ted Thomas, Jimmi Esspirit, Jorge Silva-perc; Art Jenkins-voc.

This can sound suspect. Today you can hire any of the big bands of the Swing Era, and even Ellington's and Basie's bands. There are players who specialize in this kind of nostalgia market, and who can do amazing imitations of Tommy Dorsey's legato style, or play Benny Goodman solos note for note. Is it possible to play the music without doing an imitation of the past? This is the question that confronts the Sun Ra Arkestra since the Sun left us for unknown spheres. Of course there's a first big difference, a living link: Marshall Allen has worked with Sun Ra for several decades, and he's entitled more than anybody else to lead the Arkestra: the musicians closer to the founder are no longer with us on this Earth, especially John Gilmore, who was the natural successor as leader of the band. But this would be not enough: to be true to Sun Ra's message you have to change it, to make it your own, you have to show to have the resources, the personality to do it. Few people realise the kind of musician Marshall Allen is, and his background before becoming a Sun Ra alumnus: not very well known for example is that after the service he studied contemporary music for two years at the Conservatory of Music in Paris, and that when he was called in the Arkhestra he was already a well-schooled musician, with experience in written music besides working in jazz and blues groups

His claims to lead the band are thus based on solid musical basis, enriched of course by the years of collaboration with Sun Ra. It never looked, to me at least, that Allen functioned as straw bosses on stage, this role being left more to Danny Thompson, quick to identify the song Sun Ra was going to play and to check that everybody else was ready to follow it, while both saxophonists faithfully and imperturbably followed the leader's directions, contributing at the right time with their solos, changing instruments and leading percussive or vocal choirs where the music requested it. So this is a real challenge for Allen, to be met on different grounds from his previous experience as a band member.

But the ultimate question remains - is this Cd worthy of the Ra canon in terms of musical invention, emotional content, does it give that pure joy of listening while questioning our concepts? For this listener the answer is a resounding yes, and I do not think anyone will have any doubt after the first few notes. The record begins with the deliciously incongrous ballad The Way You Look Tonight, in an arrangement jointly signed by Ra and Allen. This signature was unheard of in Ra's times, and tells something new about the inner working of the band. The track smartly displays the main strengths of the band today: kept together by the steady, soft beat of John Ore on bass and Luqman Ali on drums, the Arkestra sails through the arrangement, finding new shades in the old chestnut - listen to the trombone-ship's horn pedal that answers the theme! Proper space is given to its strongest soloists, Michael Ray telling his story while dreamily piroueting in the upper range of the trumpet, and Charles Davis cutting through the band's sound with his grainy voice and swinging, weighty phrases.

The record keeps the promises of the first track; piece by piece this new tale unfold itself, rediscovering Allen's masterful soloing in They're Peeping, a joint Ra-Allen effort with lyrics by another great presence of the old Arkestra, James Jac Jackson, sadly missing today; the toughtful vibes by Damon Choice in the title track, the forceful trombone by Tyrone Hill in Watch The Sunshine. The trumpet players are completely up to the great Ra tradition: besides Ray, both Dave Gordon ad Fred Adams acquit themselves extremely well, as does trombone player Dick Griffin. Among the wind players, tenor saxophonist Ya Ya Abdul Majid and trombonist Dave Davis are heard only in the ensemble playing.

While I personally quite like it, the rough voice of Art Jenkins can be an acquired taste, and there's a fair amount of it all along the cd; Bruce Edwards' deft comping under the solos is an essential part of the proceedings, while the sedate quality of his guitar improvisations, present in almost all the tracks, doesn't do much for me - I'd have thought that electric guitar would have been the instrument of choice to give the band a cutting edge sound. Some of the more explorative quality of the "space chords" here are in fact basically left to the more "out" sections of Allen's solos. But this is the first step of another journey, and hopefully time will come for that too.

There Will Never Be Another You, the other standard of the set, is worth alone - as they say - the price of admission. Clocking at almost 9 minutes, after its abrupt beginnings it goes through an arrangement full of small, lovely touches which is great fun to discover listen after listen, and among the excellent solos special mention must be made of Noel Scott's sweet and sour contribution.

The last track, Galactic Voyage, in the processional style of the Arkestra, features the percussion; Ted Thomas, Jimmy Esspirit, Jorge Silva and Elson Nascimiento are listed as percussion player but I have the feeling that they alternate between the tracks; talking about details, I also think that in some at least of the pieces there was overdubbing, or that multitrack recording technology allowed some of the solos to be added later.

There are losses that could not be replaced, huge voids in the band that were left open, gaping, in front the listener familiar with the old band: no piano and/or keyboards in the line-up, no tenor saxophone solos, no female voice. No-one could take the place of Ra, Gilmore or Tyson, and it was apparently deemed best to left the chairs vacant, hoping that in the future new, young and original players will be able to give a quality contribution to the band without imitating the masters.

The repertoire eschews golden oldies from the Ra tradition - no Saturn or We Travel The Spaceways here - and it is based on original compositions or arrangements by Allen, who in the liner notes is quoted promising new interpretations of rarely or never heard arrangements and compositions from Ra's book "and believe me, there are lots of 'em"; here only Blue Set is a Ra composition given a new interpretation. The band is a first-class line-up where seasoned Ra veterans play along young, eager musicians, and it's full sound, brass and percussion heavy.

While the standard of production - sound, graphics, notes - is very high, this is self production by the band, which needs all the support it can get, and since the Cd is a joy from start to finish, do yourself a favor and find a way to buy it. If your shop doesn't stock it, El Ra Records can be contacted by mail at:
El Ra Records
Cathedral Station
PO Box 1769
New York, NY 10025
USA
by phone at ++212 932 2725,
by fax at ++212 222 0957 or
online at www.elrarecords.com.

—Francesco Martinelli

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