Living & Arts

Sun Ra Arkestra: from Saturn to Swarthmore

In print | September 17, 2009

With a fall lineup of eclectic, trance, experimental and (dare I say it) indie bands, Swartmore’s concert venue, the Olde Club, promises to entertain students with a diverse array of musical styles.
Last week’s performances by Grouper and U.S. Girls kicked off Olde Club’s fall concert season, to the appreciation of many students, though some concert-goers, like Ashley Vogel ’13 said that this first show was “not as packed as other shows in the past, but nonetheless had interesting music.”

The upcoming show on Saturday, Sept. 19 will introduce students to the realm of experimental and free improvisation jazz. The concert features two groups: the Sun Ra Arkestra, an avant-garde jazz group formed by the famous and controversial Sun Ra, and the Sonic Liberation Front, a free jazz band from Philadelphia.

Though most people may be unfamiliar with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra (birth name: Herman Poole Blount), the band’s founder and long-time leader, according to Scott Yanow of allmusic.com, happens to be “the most controversial … of all the jazz musicians.”
In the 1940s and ’50s Sun Ra started performing with various musicians, including John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, and began infusing his music with his interests in the cosmos, ancient Egypt and science fiction.

Although born in Birmingham, Alabama, Sun Ra believed that he actually came from the planet Saturn. In Sun Ra’s official band website, he is quoted as saying “I am on this planet because people need me,” and that the world needed his music.

The Arkestra attracted many jazz musicians and featured a constantly changing line-up. Sun Ra and the Arkestra continued to gain fame with their cosmically inspired music and their use of the electronic keyboard. After Sun Ra’s death in 1993, Gilmore took over the Arkestra until he died two years later in 1995, and the Arkestra was in turn taken over by Allen. Allen, who primarily performs on alto saxophone, is still the bandleader of the Arkestra and now at 85 years of age will be performing with the Arkestra this Saturday.

There isn’t a plethora of jazz enthusiasts at Swarthmore (though the school does boast a jazz ensemble group) but Ivana Ng ’12 said that she’s “a really big jazz fan” and saw Marshall Allen with another drummer last year. “Olde Club last year didn’t really have any jazz shows, so I’m very excited about that,” Ng said.

Anna Zalokostas ’10, Olde Club’s booking director, said that she doesn’t “think the Arkestra is at the top of most Swarthmore students’ popularity list, but it’s incredible music nonetheless performed by a group of really talented and experienced musicians.”

Also playing this Saturday is Sonic Liberation Front, a group who describes themselves on their website as a combination of “free jazz, Afro-Cuban percussion, and electronic.”
“SLF isn’t just using different drums for the sake of it-—each instrument is a well-placed accent within the music,” the website states. SLF pays careful attention to not only what instruments are used, but also how the music they play is recorded.

Formed in 1999, Sonic Liberation Front was comprised of seven to nine band members and released their first album, “Water and Stone,” in 2000. However, it wasn’t until the 2004 release of their sophomore album “Ashé a Go-Go” that the group began to receive a lot of acclaim. With their third album, “Change over Time,” came the arrival of more musicians, turning the Front into a 12-person band.

“They sound pretty cool,” Ng said. “It sounded pretty cool, pretty chill.”

As for fears that Swarthmore students will not appreciate or be interested in the music, Ng added, “I think [the show] will appeal to a wide audience, as long as people keep an open mind. It’s really good music … People might not understand it, but it’s still really interesting to hear and they’re fantastic musicians.”

The Olde Club show featuring Sun Ra Arkestra and Sonic Liberation Front will take place this Saturday at 9 p.m. Regardless of what genres of music you generally listen to, the Sun Ra Arkestra and Sonic Liberation Front will, at the very least, provide a new and unique experience.