Record Club:
WEEK 330 — May 25-31, 2025
New Dawn
by Marshall Allen
LISTEN:
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PICKED BY JOE
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ALBUM DETAILS
GENRE: Cool jazz, third stream, big band, soul jazz
RELEASED: February 14, 2025
LENGTH: 40:44
TRACKLIST:
- Prologue
- African Sunset
- New Dawn (ft. Neneh Cherry)
- Are You Ready
- Sonny's Dance
- Boma
- Angels and Demons at Play
LYRICS: I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming that the only lyrics are the ones Neneh Cherry sings in "New Dawn," so here they are. Unless AZLyrics made them up and Neneh Cherry is actually featured on baritone sax or some shit.
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ARTIST DETAILS
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ABOUT: Marshall Belford Allen was born May 25, 1924. He is 101 years old today. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but has long considered Philadelphia his home. He served in WWII, stationed in France, where he was educated in playing the saxophone. By 1958, he joined the Sun Ra Arkestra, a pioneering afrofuturistic jazz group led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra. They have released over 100 full-length albums, many of which feature Allen on the alto sax (or flute, oboe, piccolo, EWI). The collective moved into a home at 5626 Morton St. in Philadelphia in 1968, when Sun Ra bought the property from Allen's parents. Allen has lived there this entire time, and still lives there now (the home was made a historic landmark by the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2022). Allen has been the bandleader for Sun Ra Arkestra since 1995, after Sun Ra himself died in 1993 and his successor John Gilmore died in 1995. Allen has been described as "one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era." New Dawn is his "debut album." It was recorded, of course, in Philadelphia. He played at Solar Myth this past Friday night for a birthday performance, and now here he is in Record Club.
DISCOGRAPHY: As noted above, this is the first album of music ever released under Marshall Allen's own name. I would not be able to list all the albums that Marshall Allen has actually appeared on, either as leader, member, or sideman.
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ADDITIONAL INFO
READING SOME SHIT: Allen takes a look back at 100 years with Jazzwise. ALSO: here is an article from Stereogum about a book that examines why people hate jazz, with a shoutout to Allen at the bottom of the page.
WATCHING SOME SHIT: the entire record release show at World Café Live on 4/9/25
RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: We could list the jazz albums that this club has covered, as we usually do whenever a jazz album comes about. Might as well keep doing it before the list becomes too unwieldy. Fyah by Theon Cross, Drums Unlimited by Max Roach, Universal Consciousness by Alice Coltrane, and Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) by jaimie branch are the four pure jazz albums so far, though plenty of others have jazz influences. Hidden Things does not have a jazz influence, but his nephew fronts a secret underground rock band called Live Jazz.
Before Marshall Allen broke the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to release an album of new material, the record was held by Tony Bennett, who, at 95, released a duets album with Lady Gaga.
At one point, I knew Kurt Vile's address. I lost it, and the city's property database has since updated so that you can't search by name. But I know for a fact that Kurt and Marshall live like two miles away from each other. Marshall lives even closer to the Woodstock House, which still features a poster of Miley Cyrus in its bathroom.
At one point, I knew Kurt Vile's address. I lost it, and the city's property database has since updated so that you can't search by name. But I know for a fact that Kurt and Marshall live like two miles away from each other. Marshall lives even closer to the Woodstock House, which still features a poster of Miley Cyrus in its bathroom.
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: I am relatively certain that Marshall Allen has not appeared on this blog before. I have no idea whether Sun Ra has been mentioned before, because that's an impossible search phrase on blogger. Featured artist Neneh Cherry showed up in A Year of Blind Spots earlier in the year.
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OTHER ALBUMS TO CHECK OUT
LAST WEEK'S ALBUM: Blue Garden by Delta Sleep, and make sure to check out the reviews if you wanna see what we thought of it!
RC@5: We're relistening to the Record Club album we featured exactly five years ago this week. The RC album for this week in 2020 was The Slow Rush by Tame Impala.
RC f/u: We're attempting to catch up on all the new albums from our esteemed Record Club alumni. Mini-reviews coming next Saturday, this week for News of the Universe by La Luz and Timeless by Kaytranada.
LAST WEEK'S ALBUM: Blue Garden by Delta Sleep, and make sure to check out the reviews if you wanna see what we thought of it!
RC@5: We're relistening to the Record Club album we featured exactly five years ago this week. The RC album for this week in 2020 was The Slow Rush by Tame Impala.
RC f/u: We're attempting to catch up on all the new albums from our esteemed Record Club alumni. Mini-reviews coming next Saturday, this week for News of the Universe by La Luz and Timeless by Kaytranada.
SHADOW RECORD CLUB: Each week, I'm exploring a genre of last week's album by listening to one of that genre's top-rated albums. Last week's Blue Garden was a math rock album. We're listening this week to Masked Dancers: Concern in So Many Things You Forget Where You Are by the Brave Little Abacus.
NEXT WEEK'S RC ALBUM: In case you need some extra time with an album to write a review for it, you can get a head start on A Boy Named Goo by Goo Goo Dolls!
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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
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