Jazz visionary Sun Ra has been dwelling among the stars in outer space for years, but here on Earth, his Sun Ra Arkestra is still playing the Afrofuturist jazz that started it all back in the 1950s. The last few times the band performed at North Sea Jazz, it was led by saxophonist Marshall Allen, but at 102 years old, he can no longer travel – except perhaps through time. So on this tour, the reins are in the hands of the “young” Knoel Scott (69 years old). It makes no difference to the band’s sound and spirit: they still transport us to other solar systems. So much for the formalities. The latest album, Lights On A Satellite, is imbued with the jazz of Chicago and the rest of the cosmos. Sun Ra has left this planet, but his Arkestra will continue to be heard forever.
