Henry Grimes and Marshall Allen

[sheldonm]

very cool... hey, chicago guys-- i've heard most of the Fred Anderson records, never seem him live (alas) & my two faves are "the missing link" (first i heard & it imprinted) & then the duet on okka w/Steve McCall, whom i also love. any other heavy faves w/ya'll i should revisit? also, do you know if this group is going to record, or have been recorded?

txxx--

clementine

athens, ga (home of the gentleman who rediscovered Henry for us.)

Chuck Nessa may be the guy to answer your questions.

[Chuck Nessa]

my two faves are "the missing link" (first i heard & it imprinted) & then the duet on okka w/Steve McCall, whom i also love

Interesting. As the liner notes of the Okka make clear, I turned down the duet with McCall to issue Missing Link. Only so much investment possible.

[Lazaro Vega]

John,

Grimes and Allen went to the Velvet Sunday night to help Fred celebrate his birthday.

[Chuck Nessa]

whaddya do when roscoe's totally insane (& brilliant), "lrg-- the maze-- sii examples" plops in yr lap... it might as well as come from outer space for all we knew

This is a really interesting story (for me if nobody else). Rock and I planned this for about a year and the recordings were a real adventure. Maybe more, but in a different thread.

[ejp626]

Clem --

The tour is being archived on video (and probably bootlegged at every stop though no one from our table). I have no idea if this will ever be released (and have no idea how hard it would be to clean up something like this to make it presentable), but at least it isn't completely lost. Grimes is definitely starting to record more, and is on Dennis Gonzalez's Nile River Suite, which is good, but nowhere as wild and experimental as the Spacespace dates.

Eric

[Chalupa]

Just got back from seeing the Philly show. Quick mini review.... Pretty amazing. Marshall played really well tonight as did Henry. I thought it was just going to be the two of them improvising the entire night but Marshall had a music stand w/ sheet music about two inches thick in front of him. They were joined for two numbers by two Arkestra members Danny Thompson(on flute) and Yahya Abdul-Majid(on tenor). The whole show was video taped and I saw two additional audio tapes being made. Marshall also taped it(he tapes all of his shows from the bandstand) w/a mini disc recorder.

Henry was not playing the green bass this time. Marshall alternated between Alto, Clarinet, and something called an EVI. It's the one of the strangest instruments

I've ever heard. Sort of like a cross between a Sax and a DX7. I've seen him play it before w/ the Arkestra. In fact I can remember seeing the whole front line playing them at shows back in the 80's.

Here's a photo I took of Marshall holding it...

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/3f79f5cd_12...h2D8OCBzvkM0p4B

After the show I got to chat w/ Danny Thompson for about 15 minutes and he gave me and my friend a mini history of the Arkestra. My friend mentioned to Danny that first time he saw the Arkestra play was in NYC back in the early 80's when Sun Ra had put out a call to get 100 musicians to play w/ him. My friend said it was more like 50 or 60 and Danny corrected him. "Actually, it was 110. I know because I had to pay EVERYONE!"

[Lazaro Vega]

Ah ha, very good.

Hey man, Olive Oil took a spill off a hotel cart and broke, according to a missive from Ms. Davis, so Grimes is having to play out the tour on a borrowed instrument (until they can get Olive Oil to an instrument hospital).

[Chalupa]

{{{{{Olive Oil}}}}}

[Chalupa]

Almost forgot.... Dave Burrell was at the show. He sat right in front of me and applauded every solo. After the show I saw him go into the dressing room and speak w/ Henry. I'd like to see them play together.

[alankin]

I was there too & enjoyed the show. I was glad to hear the other pair of musicians come out. My ears needed something different by that time.

Hey Chalupa -- are you going to see the Arkestra show at the Sedgwick next month (4/16)? They'll be doing all or mostly arrangements of "stomps," including ones by Fletcher Henderson.

(Maybe that'll motivate me to read more of the new Fletcher Henderson bio, which is pretty good so far.)

We seem to keep ending up at the same shows. Have we met?

Edited March 21, 2005 by alankin

[Ron S]

Alan, that Arkestra show at the Sedgwick sounds very interesting. Maybe I'll meet you there again, and we can also hook up with Chalupa (and any other Board Member who wants to join the fun).

[alankin]

I find some details of the show on some site (phillyjazz.Jazzmatazz.info) --

Sun Ra Arkestra

under the direction of Marshall Allen

— featuring Sun Ra's arrangements of big band jazz stomps by Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, Jelly Roll Morton, a.o.

— will include the world premiere of two new stomps composed and arranged by Arkestra trumpeter Fred Adams

— the Sedgwick youth jazz band will perform with the Arkestra on several pieces

— Sedgwick Cultural Center, 7137 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia

Apr 16 (Sat) — 8 pm — $15 advance / $22 door

Edited March 21, 2005 by alankin