A member of Sun Ra's Arkestra from 1958, Marshall Allen was there at the inception of the avant-garde jazz scene in the 1960s. Sun Ra, who died in 1993 -- or was transported to another planet, as the eccentric artist always insisted would happen -- led one of the most experimental, and controversial jazz orchestras of that, or any, time. Allen played saxophone, and any other instrument Sun Ra encouraged him to, and later took over leadership of the Arkestra and Sun Ra film and music archives. He has continued to innovate and collaborate well into his 80s.
Long before their nearly mandatory use in '60s rock shows, Sun Ra experimented with lights, costumes, dancers and background films. His uncompromising approach to music included not only esoteric creative principles and an obscure cosmology of music, space and history, but one of the wildest concerts experiences around (captured on the 1974 film "Space is the Place").
While recently on tour in Japan, Allen reminisced about Sun Ra in an interview at his hotel and explained why he has chosen to collaborate with filmmaker James Harrar. More than half Allen's age, Harrar's original films and edited archival footage acted as the impetus for their improvisation. Allen's spryness and easy laugh, undiminished by months of worldwide touring, were evidence that creating rare and challenging art -- whatever the medium -- is a very good life indeed.