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Music
The Sun Ra Arkestra

When

Sunday May 25, 2008 (9pm)

Where
Sullivan Hall (214 Sullivan St, 212.634.0427)
Price
$20 / $15 advance
Details
http://www.sullivanhallnyc.com/artists/sun_ra.htm
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Jazz legend Sun Ra broached the transvibrational gulf back in 1993, but his Arkestra floats on, cooing an astral lullaby that never starts, never ends, just tessellates outward into space. Now under the direction of longtime-member Marshall Allen, the ensemble weaves abstract improvisation and more traditional chordal passages into a sweeping vision of jazz's spiritual past. The Arkestra's eclectic sound is complemented by a pantheistic aesthetic — all abstruse philosophy and sparkling Egyptian hats. It's strange, to be sure, but what isn't in a universe that is endless and expanding.

Nick Earhart