From the free-spirited playing of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Lights On A Satellite lands squarely in the groove of swing. This recording is a tribute to the life’s work of Marshall Allen, who celebrated his 100th birthday on May 25, 2024. Recorded in Studio A at New York’s Power Station on June 16, 2024, the album honors this exceptional musician as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, bandleader, teacher, and keeper of Sun Ra’s legacy. Today, the band released the second single from the album, Baby Won't You Please Be Mine, a 1955 Sun Ra composition that Allen discovered in the estate six years ago and recently added to the Arkestra's repertoire. Watch the tracking video from Power Station in New York City HERE.
Allen is one of jazz’s most distinctive voices. His versatile alto saxophone has defined the sound of the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1958. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, the NEA Jazz Master (2025) embodies, like no other, the music that has come to be recognized as America’s classical music. Allen has played an active role in shaping all eras of jazz, and his eloquent tone continues to unfold its radiance and expressiveness to this day. With the Steiner Electronic Valve Instrument (E.V.I.), Allen has created a unique realm of sound that catapults him directly into the 21st century.
Allen has led the Sun Ra Arkestra for over 30 years. Founded by Sun Ra in the early 1950s, the band chose the name Arkestra as a fusion of Noah’s Ark and orchestra. No other ensemble more effectively bridges the past and future, as if operating a time machine. On Lights On A Satellite, we hear pieces from a century of jazz brought to life in astonishing ways. Sun Ra’s reverberations seem to carry on well past his earthly departure in 1993, into eternity, as we experience the world premiere of his composition Baby Won’t You Please Be Mine.
Allen has refused to let the Sun Ra Arkestra atrophy into a mere repertoire band. He has sorted through Sun Ra’s estate, breathed life into it, trained young musicians in its spirit, and added new Sun Ra compositions to the band’s repertoire. Although Allen has not toured internationally since 2021, he remains active. At the “Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra,” the historic Morton Street house in Philadelphia, Allen continues his mission.
In Lights On A Satellite, we experience the master’s virtuosity and the interplay of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a unique sound entity encompassing generations of musicians with a vast repertoire.
Allen discovered Baby Won’t You Please Be Mine in Sun Ra’s estate six years ago and recently added it to the Arkestra’s repertoire. It has the feel of a 1930s Billie Holiday piece, with its charming, era-appropriate instrumental parts that break free into more experimental phrasing. Horace Henderson’s Big John’s Special, originally arranged by his brother Fletcher Henderson, reflects a relaxed, straight-ahead style with restrained tension reminiscent of New Orleans bands. Sun Ra, like Horace, played piano and wrote arrangements under his real name, Herman Poole Blount, in Fletcher’s band.
The million-selling Holiday for Strings (1942 by David Rose and his Orchestra) remains an American classic, featured in Sun Ra Arkestra’s 1960s recording Holiday for a Soul Dance, a solemn, piano-accented piece with rapid tempo changes.
In Lights On A Satellite, Allen unfolds his mastery of the alto saxophone, bursting from exquisite interplay with strings in explosive solos as the reed section joins in. The album closes with Tapestry From An Asteroid, a staple of the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1956, now heard in a fresh arrangement that highlights the rich baritone saxophone of Noel Scott and Allen’s overblown high notes.
The distinctive groove of this remarkable orchestra is captured in its entirety, with 24 musicians recorded in quality that allows each voice to shine. Entering the studio with such a large ensemble was a calculated risk.
With Lights On A Satellite, Frank Kleinschmidt of IN+OUT Records celebrates his 40-year connection to the Sun Ra Arkestra. This release includes sound and film documentation, as well as liner notes and photographs by Allen’s biographer Sibylle Zerr, plus reflections from Allen himself, encapsulating the spirit of this remarkable recording session.
