Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on January 2, 2026
On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Marshall Allen, IN+OUT Records invited the Sun Ra Arkestra into the studio with 24 musicians.
Somewhere between swing, free jazz, and the farthest reaches of the cosmos, the Sun Ra Arkestra continues its eternal voyage—guided by a century-old master still very much at the helm. Lights on a Satellite, recorded in celebration of Marshall Allen’s 100th birthday, captures a rare and powerful convergence of history, futurism, and living jazz tradition.
Recorded on June 16, 2024, in Studio A at New York’s storied Power Station, the album brings together the Sun Ra Arkestra in its largest possible configuration: 24 musicians spanning four generations. Released by IN+OUT Records, the session was conceived as both a tribute and a statement—one that honors Allen’s lifetime of devotion as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, bandleader, teacher, and the steadfast guardian of Sun Ra’s singular musical universe.
More than three decades after Sun Ra’s reported ascent to Saturn, his music remains vibrantly alive—propelled forward by Allen, who has led the Arkestra since 1993. Recently named an NEA Jazz Master, Allen brings nearly 70 years of experience navigating Sun Ra’s spaceways into the present moment. Lights on a Satellite finds the Arkestra fully grounded in the 21st century while remaining unbound by time, tradition, or gravity.
There is something almost miraculous at work here: a simultaneity of the non-simultaneous. The album feels like a time machine traveling through 100 years of jazz history—moving freely through avant-garde abstraction, signature Arkestra groove, and deep-rooted swing—with a centenarian jazz master captaining the ship. That alone would be remarkable. What truly astonishes is the power, clarity, and purpose with which Marshall Allen continues his life’s calling.
The vision for the recording came from IN+OUT Records founder Frank Kleinschmidt, who invited the Arkestra into the studio with the goal of capturing its full polyphonic scope and expansive sense of space and time. The result is a document that reflects not only the vast array of instruments in play, but also the living continuum of jazz itself—musicians from multiple eras united around a repertoire that spans a full century of creative evolution.
Lights on a Satellite stands as both celebration and transmission: a reminder that Sun Ra’s philosophy, sound, and sense of cosmic possibility are not relics of the past, but active forces still shaping the future. In honoring Marshall Allen at 100, the Sun Ra Arkestra affirms that this music—like the universe it seeks to reflect—remains infinite, eternal, and brilliantly alive.
