The All-Star Game indeed. This 73-minute jam in six parts is the aural document of a gig held at the ICA in London in December of 2000. The lineup that champion saxophonist Marshall Allen chose is startling: Kidd Jordan on tenor, Hamid Drake on drums, and both William Parker and Alan Silva on basses! And before you surrender to the erroneous notion that this is just some blowing session where skronk is the name of the game front and back, get real. These men are all improvisers of a different sort. All of them have played in very disciplined units and know how to make the most of dynamic, harmonic interplay, tonal dexterity, and (of course) group interplay as well as solo improvising. The exchanges between Allen and Jordan themselves are remarkable for the way in which contrapuntal allowances are turned around in a series of cadences dictated by the bassists and then articulated through first subtle and then bleating shifts of tone and color. The articulation of breath, elongation of line, and opposing notions of legato phrasing as it differs from alto to tenor player is remarkable. On the third and fourth sections, the engagement of both bassists with Drake as the sax players lean in to play tight and close to the rhythmic sprawl is nothing short of astonishing. That this intensity of focus and creativity is displayed for this length without a single straw note or easily copped riff or trope is remarkable in and of itself. But the real secret of this gig's success was in its reliance on keeping the rhythm section the center of focus and attention: this music swings -- albeit in an entirely new way -- as hard as it blows. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

In honor of Marshall Allen's 100th birthday tomorrow (May 25th) we are pleased to present this new one from the John Blum Quartet! Vinyl LP and official release date at the end of summer in late August 2024!! Enjoy!
John Blum—Piano
Marshall Allen—Alto Sax, EVI
Elliot Levin—Tenor Sax, Flute
Chad Taylor—Drums
All compositions by John Blum…Stygian Mode Publishing BMI
Recorded 12/14/2022 at Rittenhouse Soundworks, Philadelphia PA.
Mixed by John Lipscomb
Mastered by Mikey Young
Artwork & Layout by Dylan Marcus McConnell

Marshall Allen, 97 years young, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, teacher, mystic, and wizard. He is one of the oldest active working musicians touring the world non-stop (except during COVID). Tyler Mitchell was a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall in 1985 with Sun Ra, then much later when Marshall became musical director. On this recording Tyler has the opportunity to perform Marshall Allen and Sun Ra's compositions with a small ensemble. They used different ideas and concepts from two of Tyler’s former band leaders: Arthur Taylor and the Sun Ra Arkestra.
released January 28, 2022
Marshall Allen – sax and evi
Tyler Mitchell – bass
Chris Hemmingway – tenor
Nicoletta Manzini - alto sax
Wayne Smith – drums
Elson Nascimento – percussion

Two days after his 100th birthday, Marshall Allen started recording New Dawn, his debut solo album. A member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1958, Allen assumed leadership of the band in 1995. Throughout his nearly seventy-year career, Allen has never released a solo album under his own name, and yet, instead of capping such a legendary output, New Dawn seems to herald a new beginning. A love letter to spacetime, it channels a century of musical intelligence into seven tracks, showing Allen at his most protean — freely moving from relaxed, transdimensional palettes to bluesy big band and beyond.
One of music’s vanguard avant-saxophonists, Allen continues to deliver durational feats during the Arkestra’s gigs. Still, the compositional energy contained on New Dawn is striking. Allen was approached with the idea of a solo record by Week-End Records’ Jan Lankisch. The Arkestra’s Knoel Scott — who has lived with Allen at the Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra since the 1980s — worked with Allen to pore over the archive of unrecorded material and develop this debut. Scott assembled some of Philadelphia’s brightest jazz stars as well as some Arkestra veterans for the sessions. New Dawn was then recorded over a couple of days in Philadelphia, with additional recordings added in the following weeks and months.
The title track “New Dawn” is the centerpiece of this impressive album and the arranger Knoel Scott wrote the lyrics himself. We are thrilled to have the incomparable Neneh Cherry, stepdaughter of legendary jazz musician Don Cherry, lend her unmistakable voice to this song.
Though greatly informed by the philosophy of Sun Ra and his Saturnian teachings — traverse jazz’s traditions, dig deep into spiritual geographies — New Dawn signals Allen as his own singular voice, one that’s swinging and bopping and reflecting into the future, with no sign of stopping. Week-End Records is proud to release this debut solo album by Marshall Allen.
“The one thing that I'm really looking forward to, and I think this is the best thing ever, is the fact that Marshall Allen is about to release, at the age of 100, his debut album under his own name. There is no greater feat of durability, working at your craft, and putting your ego to the back of the room while you're supporting other artists and performers.” – Gilles Peterson
“New Dawn is clearly an extension of Ra’s legacy and sound, but it’s also a masterful endeavour filtered through Allen’s tastes and approach.” – John Morrison, The Wire
Musicians:
Marshall Allen – Kora, EWI, Alto Sax
Knoel Scott – Baritone Sax, Congas, Drums
Cecil Brooks – Trumpet
Michael Ray – Trumpet
Bruce Edwards – Guitar
Jamaaladeen Tacuma – Bass
Richard Hill – Bass
Timothy Ragsdale – Bass
Owen Brown Jr – 1st Violin
Akiko Arendt – 1st Violin
Cristina Ardelean Montelongo – 1st Violin
Derek Washington – 2nd Violin
Elias Feldmann – 2nd Violin
Dimitra Karageorgopoulou – 2nd Violin
Michael Ireland – Viola
Vasileios Vasileiadis – Viola
Joseph Richard Carvell – Bass
Ilektra-Despoina Stevi – Cello
Jorik Bergman – Flute
George Gray – Drums
Jan Lankisch – Percussion
Special Guest:
Neneh Cherry – Voice
Cover Art:
Elisabeth Wild (1922-2020), © The Estate of Elisabeth Wild. Courtesy Estate of the artist; Carbon.12