Iconic saxophonist, composer, and Sun Ra Arkestra leader Marshall Allen is celebrating his centenarian status with new music. The 100-year-old artist will be releasing his debut solo album, titled New Dawn, on February 14th. The announcement was accompanied by the release of the title track and its accompanying video. Stream it below.
The celebrated artist has over 70 years of recording and performance to his name, but New Dawn will mark the first project under his name alone. The album, described as “a love letter to spacetime that channels a century of musical transience and transcendence,” will be seven tracks in total. Not one to be deterred by the passage of time, Allen began recording the project in Philadelphia two days after his 100th birthday.
“New Dawn” is an easygoing, nostalgic track with a warm instrumental line from Allen on the saxophone, paired with lyrics by Sun Ra Arkestra bandmate Knoel Scott and vocals supplied by Neneh Cherry. Allen collaborated closely with Scott across New Dawn, with the pair sifting through unreleased tracks and archived music to create the eventual tracklist.
“[Scott] knew Marshall better than anyone, and his deep understanding of Marshall’s compositions guided the selection of material for the album,” shared the project’s producer Jan Lankisch. The heart of the LP is characterized as “the melding of the past and the future, of legacy and discovery.”
Since launching in the 1950s, Sun Ra Arkestra have stood as leaders in Afrofuturism. In 2020, under Allen’s direction, the jazz collective dropped their first new band project in 20 years
New Dawn Artwork:
New Dawn Tracklist:
01. Prologue
02. African Sunset
03. New Dawn (feat. Neneh Cherry)
04. Are You Ready
05. Sonny’s Dance
06. Boma
07. Angels and Demons at Play