Marshall Allen
Actor · b. 1924 · Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Marshall Belford Allen is a native Kentuckian born in Louisville on May 25, 1924. He is most famously known for his avant-garde jazz and free jazz work with bandleader / keyboardist Sun Ra, with whom he recorded from the late 1950s until Ra's passing in 1993. Allen plays the alto saxophone, oboe, piccolo, flute, and EVI. Aside from Sun Ra's Arkestra, Allen recorded with Paul Bley's band in 1964 and Olatunji's group in the mid-1960s. Allen has been the Arkestra's bandleader since the deaths of Ra and John Gilmore.
Movies5
MovieDocumentaryA visual odyssey of Sun Ra concepts through their followers - Marshall Allen and Abshalom Ben Shlomo. The film follows Sun Ra Arkestra band members and their journey across the desert, a promised land where Sun Ra once created his identity. Navigating through an astro-galactic world of sound, they find a reason to fight racism, injustice and vanity of the modern world - all through inner wisdom of music and sound. It's a story of infinite peace in a troubled world. An utopian planet where Sun Ra and his prophets celebrate the divine wealth of their spirits.
Movie5.8Science FictionMusicSun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the black race.
Space Is the Place
1974 · 50 votes
Movie6.4DocumentaryMusicRobert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise
1980 · 11 votes
- MovieDocumentaryMusic
Movie6.3DocumentaryMusicMulti-faceted artist Phil Niblock captures a brief moment of an interstellar communication by the Arkestra in their prime. Black turns white in a so-called negative post-process, while Niblock's camera focuses on microscopic details of hands, bodies and instruments. A brilliant tribute to the Sun King by another brilliant supra-planetary sovereign. (Eye of Sound)
The Magic Sun
1966 · 11 votes