Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love Records)
Marshall Allen
Released May 23, 2025
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2025
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Since the 1950s, Marshall Allen has been a vital member of the Sun Ra Arkestra and its dauntless leader since 1995. Founded in 2022, Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons ensemble features Arkestra guitarist DMHOTEP alongside an all-star cast of rotating musicians including Immanuel Wilkins, Yo La Tengo’s James McNew, James Brandon Lewis, The War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall, Wolf Eyes, and more. Lovingly culled, cut, and post-produced from nine live shows that traveled the spaceways.
Jazz Master Marshall Allen is singular – the celebrated saxophonist, EVI master, composer, and bandleader not only continues to perform at an astonishing level after celebrating his 100th birthday in May 2024, but he has embarked on a fruitful new chapter of an already remarkable career.
Allen is of course best known for his nearly lifelong association with the iconic Sun Ra Arkestra, which he joined in 1957 and has led for the last thirty years. As his landmark centennial neared, Allen was invited by award-winning Philadelphia presenting organization Ars Nova Workshop to lead a series of concerts at its home venue, Solar Myth. Thus was born Ghost Horizons, a new ensemble with an ever-changing lineup, teaming Allen and longtime Arkestra guitarist DMHotep with a host of all-star collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary creative music.
Released by Otherly Love Records and Ars Nova Workshop, the thrilling new double album Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons collects 16 exploratory tracks from the ongoing series’ first two years, captured live on stage at Solar Myth.
Released May 23, 2025 to coincide with Allen’s 101st birthday on May 25, the album spotlights wide-ranging improvisations with saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins, James Brandon Lewis and Elliott Levin; keyboardist Brian Marsella; bassists William Parker, EricRevis (Branford Marsalis Quartet, Tarbaby), Luke Stewart (Irreversible Entanglements) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo); drummers Chad Taylor, Tcheser Holmes (Irreversible Entanglements), Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society, Theaster Gates), and Charlie Hall(The War on Drugs); vocalist Tara Middleton, trumpeter Michael Ray and trombonist Dave Davis of the Arkestra; the Ade Ilu Lukumi Batá Ensemble; and experimental noise duo Wolf Eyes.
Though Allen continues to lead and compose for the Arkestra and to perform close to home, health precautions in recent years have led him to cease international touring even as the ensemble continues to travel the globe. The timing coincided with the opening of Solar Myth in November 2022, providing Ars Nova with a permanent home after more than 20 nomadic years hosting concerts across the city. Sun Ra, who moved his Arkestra to the city he referred to as “Death’s Headquarters” in the late 60s, has been a guiding light for the organization throughout its history – the name Solar Myth is taken from one of the Arkestra’s myriad forms.
“For nearly 70 years, the Arkestra’s work has enriched community identity while providing a model for artistic renewal and inspiration as well as healing through communal creative expression,” says Mark Christman, Ars Nova’s Founder and Director. “DMHotep and I wanted to create a uniquely Philadelphia environment where Marshall’s nearly 100 years of bravery and virtuosity could continue and engage a revolving door of musicians.”
No matter his age, retirement was never an option for Allen according to DMHotep. “Marshall’s been on the road constantly since before I was born,” says the guitarist, a member of the Arkestra for more than two decades. “It’s his existence. The thought of not touring was devastating to him. He’s still lucid and cognizant, and he can certainly still play, so I couldn’t envision him sitting in bed watching football and news stations all day.”
The inaugural Ghost Horizons concert took place on November 12, 2022, with Allen and DMHotep joined by Arkestra trombonist Dave Davis, bassist Luke Stewart of Irreversible Entanglements, and drummer and recent Philadelphia transplant Chad Taylor, co-founder of the Chicago Experimental Duo and its varied offshoots. The show featured a buoyant take on the Sun Ra classic “Seductive Fantasy,” which opens Live in Philadelphia.
From there, the music veers down a number of diverse and venturesome pathways: into the textured electronic noisescapes and cryptic recitations of Wolf Eyes; to the atmospheric “The Last Transmission,” forefronting the space-age atmospherics of Allen’s EVI against James Brandon Lewis’ low tenor moans and William Parker’s entrancing basslines; to the propulsive “Slip Stream” with saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and keyboardist Brian Marsella; to the spirit-raising Afro-Cuban percussion of the Ade Ilu Lukumi Batá Ensemble and the blistering rock-adjacent groove of “Square the Circle” with Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew and The War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall (who also leads Get Up With It, a collective dedicated to the electric music of Miles Davis).
“I didn’t want it to turn into a cookie cutter series where every iteration is the same style with different faces,” DMHotep says of assembling the disparate lineups. “I tried to incorporate musicians with different improvisational mindsets. I’m very familiar with the things that really inspire Marshall, so I kept an eye and an ear towards that while occasionally throwing him a curveball.”
Live in Philadelphia illuminates the unceasingly inventive and collaborative spirit of a master musician undiminished after a century on Earth. As DMHotep concludes, “The Ghost Horizons series is a way to show the world that Marshall is still a vital figure in the avant-garde jazz scene, and that he hasn’t lost the ability to participate and be creative.”
Track Listing:
1. Seductive Fantasy 04:34
2. Back to You 09:56
3. We’ll Wait for You/Hit That Jive, Jack 05:11
4. The Last Transmission 01:19
5. Stay Lifted 05:19
6. On Solar Planes 02:53
7. Space Ghost 07:53
8. The Hills 04:05
9. Square the Circle 08:46
10. In the Silence of the Infinite 03:23
11. Cosmic Dreamers, Ode to Elegua 08:15
12. The Unknown 01:19
13. Warn Them 05:33
14. Slip Stream 05:29
15. Tachyons Flux From The Cosmic Blueprints 05:29
16. Rindima 03:48
Personnel:
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, vocals, EVI, synthesizer
DMHOTEP: electric guitar (1-16), vocals (1-16), kalimba (3, 9, 10, 16)
Luke Stewart: double bass (1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 15)
Chad Taylor: drums, percussion (1, 4, 8, 10, 14-16)
Dave Davis: trombone (1, 15)
Wolf Eyes: electronics, drum machine, bagpipes (2, 13)
Tcheser Holmes: drums (3, 5, 7, 12)
Elliott Levin: saxophone, flute (3, 5, 7, 12)
Michael Ray: trumpet, keyboards, vocals (3, 5, 7, 12)
William Parker: double bass (4)
James Brandon Lewis: saxophone (4)
Jan Jeffries: drums, percussion (6)
Melanie Dyer: viola (6)
Gwen Laster: violin (6)
Tara Middleton: vocals, effects (6)
Brian Marsella: keyboards (8, 14)
Immanuel Wilkins: saxophone, electronics (8, 14)
James McNew: bass, electronics, sampler (9)
Charlie Hall: drums, percussion, mellotron (9)
Eric Revis: double bass (10, 16)
Mikel Patrick Avery: drums, percussion (10, 16)
Christian Noguera, Esteban “Tongo” Hernandez, Kevin Diehl: bata, chorus (11)
Kash Killion: cello, sarangi (11)
Joseph Toledo: lead vocals, percussion (11)
All performances produced by Ars Nova Workshop
Recorded live at Solar Myth
Recorded and mixed by Beau Gordon
Mastered and lacquers by Dave Gardner at DSG Mastering Los Angeles
Produced by Stephen Buono and Yuri Seung
Executive Produced by Matthew Pierce
Cover Photography by Ryan Collerd
Gatefold Photography by Sheldon Omar Abba
Original artwork and design by D. Norsen
Review:
Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen issued New Dawn, his first album credited as a solo artist, in 2025, after he had turned one hundred years old. While this special recording deserved the publicity it received, it also felt much more restrained and down-to-earth than the musician is known for being during live performances. Live in Philadelphia, credited to Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons, arrived days before the artist’s 101st birthday, and it’s far more representative of his cosmic energy on-stage. Presented by the Ars Nova Workshop and recorded at various dates between 2022 and 2024, the Ghost Horizons ensemble features an ever-changing cast of participants, with Immanuel Wilkins, William Parker, James Brandon Lewis, and members of Yo La Tengo, Irreversible Entanglements, the War on Drugs, and Natural Information Society all making appearances. Arkestra guitarist/vocalist DM Hotep joins Allen on nearly every track, and a few Sun Ra pieces are performed. “Seductive Fantasy” opens the set by asking, “If we came from nowhere here, why can’t we go somewhere there?,” then launches into a rip-roaring rhythm, with all of the musicians playing hard and fast. The Arkestra standard “We’ll Wait for You” — credited as being part of a medley with “Hit That Jive, Jack,” though it’s hard to hear any resemblance to that song — features Allen conjuring spacy tones on his alto sax and EVI, culminating in the band rushing to a fever pitch. An adaptation of the Sun Ra poem “On Solar Planes,” recited by Tara Middleton, features droning strings by Gwen Laster and Melanie Dyer. Michigan noise legends Wolf Eyes, who featured Allen as a performer and speaker during their first Trip Metal Fest in 2016, guest on “Back to You” and “Warn Them,” adding cracked electronics, squealing pipes, and snarled vocals to Allen’s abrasive squawking. “Stay Lifted” is a top-speed interstellar flight, and “Space Ghost” is a triumphant celebration of Allen’s 99th birthday. “Square the Circle” (with Yo La Tengo’s James McNew and the War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall) cruises forward with a motorik drum pattern and blistering distortion. “Cosmic Dreamers, Ode to Elegua” features the percussion-heavy Ade Ilu Lukumi Bata Ensemble, and recalls some of the more earthly qualities of the Arkestra. Marshall Allen’s creative spirit remains vibrant, and Live in Philadelphia displays his ability to connect with other innovative musicians from vastly different backgrounds.
Paul Simpson (AllMusic)
