Sun Ra Arkestra Revisit Jazz Legend’s Classics on New Album ‘Swirling’
The Sun Ra Arkestra will revisit some of the late jazz legend’s classic compositions on the outfit’s new album Swirling, their first studio LP in over 20 years.
Under the direction of bandleader Marshall Allen, the Arkestra convened in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Soundworks to record new arrangements for Sun Ra standards like “Satellites Are Spinning,” “Door of the Cosmos,” “Rocket No. 9” and “Angels and Demons at Play,” which the Arkestra shared to preview the album.
Swirling, due out October 9th via Strut Records, also features the first-ever recording of the Sun Ra song “Darkness” — unearthed from the pianist’s archives following his death in 1993 — as well as the Allen composition “Swirling.”
The album — the group’s first since 1999’s Song for the Sun, also features contributions from a pair of late long-time Arkestra members, saxophonist Danny Ray Thompson, who died in March, and percussionist Atakatune, who died in October 2018.
“We truly hope that this recording brings much joy to a planet which is so deeply in need of a spirit sound and vibration,” saxophonist Knoel Scott aid in a statement. “We hope it contributes to a change in the ominous direction of man’s journey through the cosmos,”
Allen added in a statement “This new release is the Arkestra’s love offering to the world. Beta music for a better world.”
Swirling Tracklist
- Satellites Are Spinning/Lights on a Satellite
- Seductive Fantasy
- Swirling
- Angels and Demons at Play
- Sea of Darkness / Darkness
- Rocket No. 9
- Astro Black
- Infinity / I’ll Wait for You
- Sunology
- Door of the Cosmos / Say
