New Dawn (Edit) Marshall Allen

Two days after his 100th birthday, Marshall Allen started recording New Dawn, his debut solo album. A member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1958, Allen assumed leadership of the band in 1995. Throughout his nearly seventy-year career, Allen has never released a solo album under his own name, and yet, instead of capping such a legendary output, New Dawn seems to herald a new beginning. A love letter to spacetime, it channels a century of musical intelligence into seven tracks, showing Allen at his most protean—freely moving from relaxed, transdimensional palettes to bluesy big band and beyond.

The title track “New Dawn” is the centerpiece of this impressive album and the arranger Knoel Scott wrote the lyrics himself. We are thrilled to have the incomparable Neneh Cherry, stepdaughter of legendary jazz musician Don Cherry, lend her unmistakable voice to this song.

“It’s gorgeous! Neneh is a jazz singer now! Sounds like something Nina Simone might have done.” – David Byrne

The 7” single is limited to 300 copies, numbered, and comes in a chic screen-printed cover …

Musicians: Neneh Cherry – Voice Marshall Allen – Alto Sax Knoel Scott – Baritone Sax, Michael Ray – Trumpet Bruce Edwards – Guitar Richard Hill – Bass Timothy Ragsdale – Bass Owen Brown Jr – 1st Violin Cristina Ardelean Montelongo – 1st Violin Derek Washington – 2nd Violin Dimitra Karageorgopoulou – 2nd Violin Michael Ireland – Viola Ilektra-Despoina Stevi – Cello George Gray – Drums