During an interview I had with Tyrone Hill and Marshall Allen I asked them what was it they got from working with Sun Ra. Marshall, who joined the band around 1957, drew a rectangle in the air with his 2 forefingers and said it was to be able to let ideas spiral outside of the perimeters.
Being able to think outside the box is, of course, the curse to the status quo and, while not always successful, it is what moves things. Change. The old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is irrelevant in art. Change is the life breath of art.
Tyrone, who first worked with the band in 1970, told me that one of the compelling things about working with Sun Ra was the sense of working with a common group for the common good.
Marshall is a nurturing guy, mild mannered and at comfort with his wit and musical philosophy. He was the member of the Sun Ra band who Tyrone singled out as having been supportive and offering musical guidance to him when he joined. And, while clearly Tyrone is the leader of this group, Marshall is clearly still leading people out of the box. Marshall and Tyrone, respectively 73 and 48 years old at the time of this recording, together very much represent the vanguard and the tradition of this music. It’s incredible that, after all their years in music, this is their first leadership and featured recording outside of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Caring and nurturing went a long way to facilitating the music. The group arrived on June 30 in brutally hot weather, after an unforeseen eight hour drive due to road construction. Jason, who was the driver, was soaking wet. Samarai, suffering from certain chronic health problems, was exhausted, coming off of nearly 6 weeks on the road with very few breaks. Tyrone suffers from back problems. Marshall, on the other hand, seemed indefatigable. The first evening’s recording ended by 11 p.m. and really was only for the purpose of getting an audio balance and a feel for the room. Even so, the group ran through a good take on “Angels & Demons.”
A night of solid rest had Tyrone up by 8 a.m. and outside playing trombone to a chorus of birds. Marshall went out to commune with some farm animals. Jason was the first to breakfast and the last to leave except for Samarai, whose accumulated fatigue brought him to the table after everybody had left. By the time the morning session got underway, the oppressive heat had returned and, during a break while some took showers, there was some mopping up of the pools of sweat which had formed on The Spirit Room floor. Reunited and refreshed, the band, eager to play, whipped through one good take after another with a growing excitement and realization that what was happening was worth hearing. All those years of workshopping and woodshedding were coming into play, the nurturing was paying a dividend, and artistry was out of the box.
Robert D. Rusch
