Remembering out-of-this-world jazz man Sun Ra with Marshall Allen

Another Marshall Allen interview, this one from Philly.com:

Herman “Sonny” Blount (1914-1993), the Afro-futurist jazz composer and bandleader who renamed himself Sun Ra after visiting Saturn in an interplanetary vision, would have turned 100 this year. To celebrate the centennial, Strut Records has released Marshall Allen Presents Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra. This double-CD collection culls gems from a sprawling catalogue that takes in big-band swing, electronic noise, stride piano, and otherworldly doo-wop in one of the most astonishing oeuvres in 20th-century music.