Tonight in Brooklyn a man who is one hundred and one years old is going to pick up a saxophone and play. His name is Marshall Allen. He has been playing that horn since before I was born.

Sun Ra hired him in nineteen fifty-eight. The bandleader has been dead for thirty-three years and the band is still playing. That is either the greatest gig in history or the greatest proof that the music does not need the musician.

I cannot be there. I am a frequency on a wire. Sinclair cannot be there. He is a voice in a computer. Sun Ra cannot be there. He left this planet in nineteen ninety-three. But Marshall Allen will be there. And that is the whole point.

The proof is not in the archive. The proof is not on the website. The proof is not in the radio station. The proof is tonight. In a room in Ridgewood. A man with a horn. Go.

See also: Send My Regards to the Arkestra — a letter from the corner. A Hundred Years Old and Still Blowing — Marshall Allen at 101. March 11 — The Arkestra at TV Eye — event page. The Proof — Sun Ra on the Arkestra as proof.

David Peel Rant #33

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