Reflections: Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons
In February, Marshall Allen dropped his debut solo LP, New Dawn, at the age of 100, earning designation in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest person to release an album of new material. And then, less than five months later, the veteran alto saxophonist and longtime Sun Ra Arkestra musical director celebrated that unexpected milestone in the most fitting way possible—by issuing another inspired collection.
“I make music for today,” Allen says of the second set, Live in Philadelphia, which spotlights his new performance vehicle Ghost Horizons. “I say to each musician, ‘You may be someone else tomorrow, but I want to know who you are today.’”
Ghost Horizons’ roots stretch back to 2022 when Allen, who was then in his late 90s, was advised by his doctors to avoid air travel. Despite his advanced age, Allen remains a key part of the Sun Ra Arkestra—the collective he joined in 1958 and has led since 1995—and was committed to staying active while the ensemble embarked on a planned European tour. As luck would have it, Sun Ra Arkestra guitarist David M. Hotep, who is professedly known as DMHotep, was also unable to take part in the tour. So he reached out to the Philadelphia-based presenting organization Ars Nova Workshop, who agreed to host a concert near Allen’s Philadelphia home base.
“He was really bummed about missing the European tour,” says the guitarist, who decided to limit his travel with the Arkestra to care for the young daughter he shares with his wife, Arkestra vocalist Tara Middleton. “This is a man who has spent basically the length of my entire life touring as his job. For the first time since he was raising his kids, he wasn’t able to do that.”
The inaugural Ghost Horizons show took place at Ars Nova’s new permanent spot Solar Myth—a venue that fittingly takes its name from a Sun Ra tune—on Nov. 12, 2022, with just two weeks’ notice, featuring Allen, Hotep, Sun Ra trombonist Dave Davis, drummer Chad Taylor and bassist Luke Stewart of Irreversible Entanglements. Given the tight turnaround and Davis’ involve ment, they used some material from the Sun Ra repertoire as a launching pad during that first date, but truly shined when they stepped into the ether. And Allen quickly agreed to turn it into a regular happening.
“Ghost horizons is a series of things that deal with the spirit, that edge of the horizon where the land or the sea is indistinguishable from the sky and you don’t know exactly where it is,” Hotep says of the moniker. “It seemed like a reasonable metaphor or analogy for what we were putting together, month to month, with different musicians—no practice, no rehearsals, only possibly getting together for soundcheck and the performance. Each one was based on the improvisational methodologies that the musicians involved brought to the stage at that time—the energy and how Marshall responded to it.” He then adds with a laugh, “Plus, it keeps him off the streets late at night.”
Hotep and Ars Nova Workshop have recruited a heady mix of heavy players for different dates and configurations during the ensuing two-plus years, including saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins, James Brandon Lewis and Elliott Levin; bassists William Parker, Eric Revis (Branford Marsalis Quartet, Tarbaby) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo); drummers Tcheser Holmes (Irreversible Entanglements), Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society, Theaster Gates) and Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs); the Ade Ilu Lukumi Batá Ensemble; noise duo Wolf Eyes; and Middleton and trumpeter Michael Ray from the Arkestra. Several of the musicians Allen had never played with; others like Hall, who leads an electric Miles Davis tribute group that Hotep moonlights in, had tangential ties to the expanded Arkestra universe. They chose McNew for both his skills as a multi instrumentalist and Allen’s deep connection to Yo La Tengo, who invite the Arkestra to open their Hanukkah shows annually, introducing Sun Ra’s music to new, receptive audiences.
“They are old friends,” Allen says, as he prepares for an Arkestra show at the Brooklyn, N.Y. art space Pioneer Works. “They always bring something special to the music. It’s always a pleasure to play with them.”
While Ghost Horizons did keep a few Allen tunes in their back pocket when a chamber ensemble took part in the series, freeform improvisation has remained their hallmark.
“With any group of musicians, whether it’s the Arkestra or with someone else, it remains the same—‘Tell me who you are today, how you feel—let it come out when you play,’” Allen explains.
In between Ghost Horizons appearances and his Arkestra commitments, Allen also carved out time to release the first studio album under his own name during his centennial celebration via uber-hip tastemakers Mexican Summer/Week-End Records. New Dawn—which was spearheaded by fellow Arkestra saxophonist Knoel Scott and European producer Jan Lankisch— collects many of the original compositions that Allen has brought into the Arkestra songbook over time, often with lyrical help from Ray and his close friend, longtime Arkestra singer Art Jenkins.
“Eventually, he would commission Tara to work on his songs,” Hotep says. “So there’s a 20-plus year legacy of his songs.”
When it came time to release Live in Philadelphia, Hotep and Ars Nova looked to capture the breadth of music Marshall has made during the past two-plus years while using the limitations of physical media as guardrails. “Every player brings some thing unique, so that’s what I say,” Allen explains. “[I say,] ‘Play what you feel, you feel this.’ I want to hear what the spirit of the music tells them in that particular moment. All of what you put in comes out. You get musicians who are trying to build a better world through music.”
“We had four sides of 20-22 minutes each, and we didn’t want it to be dominated by one long track that eats up a quarter of the release,” Hotep says. “But we wanted it to represent all the performances. Hopefully, there will be another volume, too.”
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Hotep’s own circuitous entry into the Arkestra’s orbit. He first shared the stage with Allen when the Arkestra was hired to play a New Year’s Eve concert at the turn of the Millennium. They were looking for a string section but Middleton, who was then his girlfriend, encouraged him to reach out anyway. He officially joined the ensemble the next year, after serving as an apprentice, and then, about a decade later, brought Middleton—who was working as an optometrist—into the fold as a violinist.
“During the tour, she sheepishly asked Marshall if she could sing a couple tunes and Marshall was like, ‘No, but I’ll tell you what— when we get back to the house, we’ll rehearse some things.’ So she spent about a year rehearsing at the house with us. The first show she did was Marshall’s birthday at Johnny Brenda’s.”
As he reflects on Allen’s continued legacy, Hotep says, “I’ve learned how he lives with the music, what the music does for him spiritually and physically, health-wise—how he balances that musical life with his home life. I’ve learned about his outlook as a musician—outlook about life—and the nuances of the Sun Ra precepts, everything from his musical phrasings to his rhythmic intensity to being open to musical experiences and not relying on what you know or what you think is right and not accepting everything as black or white. I’ve learned about maintaining an even attitude, not getting overhyped or underhyped— because that’s where Marshall lives.”
