LP – Black Vinyl. The Arkestras legendary guiding light celebrates his century with his very first solo album!

Two days after his 100th birthday, Marshall Allen started recording New Dawn, his debut solo album. A member of Sun Ras 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 proteanfreely moving from relaxed, transdimensional palettes to bluesy big band and beyond.

One of musics vanguard avant-saxophonists, Allen continues to deliver durational feats during the Arkestras 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 Arkestras 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 Philadelphias 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 to be added in the coming weeks and months. The legendary Neneh Cherry will lend her unmistakable voice to the title track New Dawn.

Though greatly informed by the philosophy of Sun Ra and his Saturnian teachingstraverse jazzs traditions, dig deep into spiritual geographies New Dawn signals Allen as his own singular voice, one thats 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.

New Dawn is clearly an extension of Ras legacy and sound, but its also a masterful endeavour filtered through Allens tastes and approach. John Morrison, The Wire, November 2024 (cover story)

Tracklist:

01 Prologue [00:45]
02 African Sunset [07:28]
03 New Dawn (Feat. Neneh Cherry) [06:34]
04 Are You Ready [05:40]
05 Sonny’s Dance [05:31]
06 Boma [10:22]
07 Angels And Demons At Play [04:22]

Musicians:
Marshall Allen Kora, EWI, Alto Sax
Knoel Scott Baritone Sax, Congas, Drums
Cecil Brooks 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