Longtime Arkestra member Marshall Allen sitting out Sun Ra Festival in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Marshall Allen, a jazz musician who has been associated with the Sun Ra Arkestra for nearly 70 years, will not be part of the upcoming festival in Birmingham celebrating the singular Herman Blount, better known as 'Sun Ra.'
Marshall Allen, who will celebrate his 101st birthday on May 26, has been part of Sun Ra's band for decades, first joining when Blount was based in Chicago in the 1950s, continuing on through Sun Ra's death in 1993 and leading the band ever since. As longest serving member of the Arkestra, Allen led the band to its first Grammy nomination for 'Swirling,' a collection of Sun Ra standards released in 2020.
Sun Ra took his music from Birmingham to outer space. For the first time, his band is nominated for a Grammy
Lee Shook, organizer for the Sun Ra Festival being held May 21-24, confirmed that Allen, who has cut back on his performances with the band in recent years due to health concerns, would not be able to come to Birmingham for the festival.
'It will be his 101st birthday on May 26th, and we wanted to make it his birthday party as well, but have been told he cannot come because he does not fly anymore,' Shook said. 'We even had an angel donor offer to fly a private jet up to get him and take him back to Philly so he could be here for it, but alas his doctor said no, which we just found out about.'
Shook said there are plans in the works to have Marshall take part in the festival through a Zoom call sometime during the festival, but nothing has been finalized yet.
In an interview with CBS 42 ahead of his 100th birthday, Allen talked about how he is still creating music, but that life on the road at his age is just not realistic.
'You're always running after trains and planes and carrying all that baggage,' Allen said. 'I'm not so tired I can't work, but traveling is rough.'
Nonetheless, Allen is still keeping busy with music, releasing his debut solo album, 'New Dawn,' in February, as well as taking part in recent collaborations with Meshell Ndegeocello on the Sun Ra-inspired album 'Red Hot & Ra: Magic City' and the Kronos Quartet on 'Outer Spaceways Incorporated – Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra.'
Sun Ra, who took the public persona as an alien from Saturn, was born and raised in Birmingham, playing music with different bands before leaving for Chicago in 1945. Although he never reached the same cultural peaks as his contemporaries, Sun Ra and his music have continued to reach new generations and is considered a pivotal figure in afrofuturism, which reconfigures the Black experience through science fiction. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
More information on the Sun Ra Festival can be found here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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