TYLER MITCHELL FEATURING MARSHALL ALLEN
Dancing Shadows (Mahakala Music)
Marshall Allen, an American jazz saxophonist best known for his pivotal role in Sun Ra’s Arkestra, is a strong contender for ‘oldest musician this reviewer has seen playing live’. I mention this less as random trivia, more because it was a little over 15 years ago; Allen will be 98 this May and is still performing live and recording albums like Dancing Shadows, a gorgeous set of vintage Arkestra numbers and new compositions by second saxophonist Nicoletta Manzini and bass-playing bandleader Tyler Mitchell.
A positive spring chicken at 63, Mitchell was enlisted by Sun Ra in the 1980s and upholds that inimitable musical spirit nearly 30 years after the latter’s death. His mid-album run of three pieces – Marshall’s The Deputy, Nico and Nico Revisited – are languid and nocturnal, but with a sense of untethered discord in the band’s interplay that distinguishes matters from smoothness. A Thelonious Monk tune, Skippy, underlines this personnel’s appreciation for the greats, while readings of Ra favourites like Interstellar Low Ways are more upbeat than the originals but enlivened by a twin dose of woodwind delight.
words NOEL GARDNER