Sun Ra was a bigband innovator, a pioneer of recording and playing with electronics, a poet, a cosmic philosopher, a bandleader and a keyboard innovator who claimed to be from Saturn. Herman Poole Blount would have turned 100 in 2014 had he not left us more than 20 years ago. But his spirit lives on, and so does his longrunning band.

On Halloween 2014, the Sun Ra Arkestra — complete with costumes inspired by Egyptian symbolism and science fiction — performed a rousing, outofthisworld Tiny Desk Concert. The band was led by 91yearold alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who's been with the Arkestra since the early 1950s. All these years later, no one makes soulstirring, spacedout jazz quite like the Arkestra.

SET LIST
Along Came Ra/Zoom 0:23
Queer Notions 2:23
Angels And Demons At Play 8:17
Interplanetary Music 15:03

CREDITS
Producers: Bob Boilen, Mito HabeEvans, Maggie Starbard; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Colin Marshall, Susan Hale Thomas, Maggie Starbard; Assistant Producer: Ryan Kellman