Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Strut imprint recently announced a forthcoming album by the Sun Ra Arkestra.
(Photo: Strut)Since the 1993 death of keyboardist and bandleader Sun Ra, his Arkestra has continued to navigate space and time with saxophonist Marshall Allen at the helm.
A handful of archival recordings have been issued recently, including Of Abstract Dreams, which Strut released in 2018. But now, the ensemble’s returning with Swirling, another Strut disc being hailed as the Arkestra’s first studio date in about two decades.
The recording, due out Oct. 9, includes “Seductive Fantasy” (a tune Sun Ra first recorded for On Jupiter in 1979) and finds the group performing as it floats in space alongside psychedelic globs and swirling colors, all animated by Chad Van Gaalen. A second song from the album—“Angels And Demons At Play”—was posted July 15. DB
Updated July 15
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
“Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.
Sep 9, 2025 1:18 PM
Kurt Elling was back at home in Chicago, grabbing some family time in a late-June window between gigs. Sporting a smile…
Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.
Sep 9, 2025 12:19 PM
Big Ears has announced the lineup for its 2026 festival, which will take place March 26–29 and include 250…
Mark Masters, right, with Billy Harper.
Sep 3, 2025 12:00 PM
The Rising Star Category of this publication’s annual Critics Poll was once called Talent Deserving Wider Recognition…
