Sun Ra Arkestra at Johnny Brenda's

Please join us for this special Halloween night performance featuring one of the greatest big bands of all time: The Sun Ra Arkestra.

Though the iconic Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, his cosmic legacy is proudly maintained by the interstellar sounds of the Arkestra, which operates under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who celebrated his 92nd Arrival Day (or birthday, for the more Earthbound among you) in 2016. Fresh off a year-long celebration of Sun Ra’s centennial, the Arkestra returns to Johnny Brenda’s for another intimate All Hallow’s Eve. With such a massive, joyous songbook and the kind of well organized chaos that sees their legendary 2-hour sets move deftly between rolling grooves, sing-along chants and atonal blasts of mischievous brass, the Arkestra remain one of the most unmissable live acts today....

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Please join us for this special Halloween night performance featuring one of the greatest big bands of all time: The Sun Ra Arkestra.

Though the iconic Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, his cosmic legacy is proudly maintained by the interstellar sounds of the Arkestra, which operates under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who celebrated his 92nd Arrival Day (or birthday, for the more Earthbound among you) in 2016. Fresh off a year-long celebration of Sun Ra’s centennial, the Arkestra returns to Johnny Brenda’s for another intimate All Hallow’s Eve. With such a massive, joyous songbook and the kind of well organized chaos that sees their legendary 2-hour sets move deftly between rolling grooves, sing-along chants and atonal blasts of mischievous brass, the Arkestra remain one of the most unmissable live acts today.

Sun Ra was one of the greatest and least known jazz artists of the last four decades, whose influence on diverse musicians is little known to the general public. A pianist and band leader, his style ranged from retro swing to avant free, and often in the same piece. His band could play a swinging Gershwin tune and almost imperceptibly soar into their free cosmic equational tones as if they possessed a single mind. Ra was a keyboard improviser of great originality, but his foremost talent was for inspiring and teaching creative musicians to improvise freely but together. This tension between freedom and coherence was something he explored with abundant energy and skill.

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