Arkestra

The Arkestra is the big band that Sun Ra (1914-1993) led from the mid-1950s until his death, formed in Chicago and based since 1968 in a house in the Germantown neighbourhood of Philadelphia. Under changing names and lineups it combined swing, free improvisation and early electronic keyboards with Sun Ra's mythology of space and ancient Egypt. After his death the band carried on as the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by John Gilmore until 1995 and since then by saxophonist Marshall Allen.