大象传媒

Kevin Le Gendre presents concert highlights from free jazz icons the Sun Ra Arkestra. Founded by pioneering Afrofuturist keys player and composer Sun Ra in the 1950s, the Arkestra are renowned for their freewheeling live shows and glittering, space-themed costumes, which went down a storm with the We Out Here crowd.

Later on, we hear an exclusive interview with two long-time Arkestra members, saxophonist and conductor Knoel Scott and trumpeter Michael Ray, who share some of Sun Ra鈥檚 philosophies on music, along with stories of marathon Arkestra rehearsals fuelled by 鈥渕oon stew鈥� and the time Knoel discovered he could control the weather with his saxophone.

Also in the show, dynamic Brooklyn-born vocalist and flautist Melanie Charles shares some of the music that inspires her, by Black female pioneers in jazz. Known for her genre-blending reworks of classics by Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Betty Carter, Melanie is on a mission to 鈥淢ake Jazz Trill Again鈥� 鈥� meaning she wants jazz to be for the streets, for the people and anti-institutional.

Produced by Thomas Rees for Somethin鈥� Else