Forever
alterable, young again and freshly strengthened, The Sun Ra Centennial Arkestra
under the direction of Marshall Allen presents itself on Babylon Live, the only
live recording from the Centennial Arkestra tour. Recorded at Istanbul's
Babylon music club, marking the hundredth birthday of it's founder, Sun Ra, the
tour kicked off in 2014 and lead the band around the globe. The ensemble
sparked with a briskness that is a testimony to the timelessness and infinity
of their mission.
Babylon Live
is an aural illustration of the enthusiasm of the brothers Mehmet and Ahmet
Uluğ. The tenacious Sun Ra fans indeed
made it happen. They wanted to bring the Sun Ra Arkestra to Istanbul for the
first time since 1990. Both, however, were inexperienced promoters. They drove
the band on a flat bed trailer down the arterial road to Taksim-Square and the
nearby concert hall they had booked. The unusual promotion campaign drew
thousands of curious spectators. Sun Ra's blessing turned out to be fruitful
with the concert being a great success. In consequence, the Uluğ brothers founded the music promotion
enterprise Pozitif and later on the Babylon. An Istanbul myth had come to life.
Therefore, this CD/DVD special edition is dedicated to the late Mehmet Uluğ, whose untimely death occurred in
2012.
Terrific
talents grew up in the well-kept house of 91-year-old Maestro Allen in
Philadelphia, including piano player Farid Barron, Ra's current representative
on planet Earth. Barron's exceptional sense of timing, phrasing and timbre puts
him on the same level as piano players such as Art Tatum. Before he started to
travel to the opposite side of the jazz continuum, Barron had contributed to
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. It
was Allen who also discovered violin player and highly gifted vocalist Tara
Middleton, whose vibrant and velvet, impressive alto voice is capable of
claiming the chairs of two Arkestra legends; June Tyson and Art Jenkins. Within
the sequence of brilliant solos, James Stuart convinces with a mighty
overblown, circular-breathing stream of strength on tenor saxophone. Band
veteran Vincent Chancey, Sun Ra's favorite on the French horn, displays archaic
charisma in sounding like a siren's singing or conch shell trumpet. With Wayne
Anthony Smith Jr. on the drums, Allen took in a young and versatile timekeeper,
who is potent to act as the kicking and the supporting leg while also
simultaneously providing a confident rhythm base for the music spectacle. The
entire rhythm section dives deep into the band's history, which has always
closely tied together place and time to gain singularity.
Attracted by
rhythm layers which reach into each other, the listener gets into the musical
cosmos in a quite gentle way, as if sleepwalking. The pieces build upon each
other and grow into each other. Microtonal sequences oscillate across the
entire interplay of compositions, they emerge and dive, change perpetually, as
if the tones were alchemical ingredients of a lively and ever more
self-generating primeval soup. The merit goes to Allen, who is tirelessly
evaluating and interpreting the immeasurable treasure of the tone-documents Sun
Ra left behind. These recordings stem from the never-ending rehearsals in Sun
Ra's headquarters, and their musical treasure has never before been unveiled in
front of an audience. Being reconstructed from the original compositions such
as "Ra #2" and "Carefree #2," the Arkestra is an experience
of splendid resurrection whether it is the live concert or on the recording
Babylon Live. It is a sensation. It is Sun Ra rediscovered.
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