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Marshall Allen

The Omnipresence of Now


Interviewed & photographed
by Sibylle Zerr

Marshall Allen

The Omnipresence of Now


Interviewed & photographed
by Sibylle Zerr

Leading a large band is an impossible job,


and I would have given up some time ago,
but Im under the jurisdiction of other forces
that want to help the planet,
and they keep certain musicians with me.
Sun Ra, 1989

Marshall Allen, directing the Sun Ra Arkestra

ne could call the Sun Ra Arkestra a venerable musical institution, since it has been
travelling the space ways since more than 60 years now - twenty years of which it
had been under the direction of Marshall Allen. But this maturity does not detract the
band from sparking off to unknown regions, or to exploring unexpected musical galaxies,
or likewise to use its masterly routine of solid swing, traditional stomps and down-toearth blues. This Arkestra has remained special and vivid, attracting young folks as well as
longtime Arkestra addicts. Seems like their past could only be altered towards the future.
It celebrated Sun Ras centennial in 2014 in its unique way of inventing itself over and
over again as The Sun Ra Centennial Arkestra. The 14-pieces band had been touring the
planet throughout the year. Still, there are no signs of weariness.

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

The current band leader Marshall Allen, multi-instrumentalist and distinct alto-saxophone
player, does not hesitate to keep it going even in his 91st year on planet earth. So, this
is an inquiry into agelessness. It is Friday, the 20th of March, late afternoon. A solar eclipse
had occurred in the morning. Author Sibylle Zerr meets Marshall Allen in the dining room
of his hotel on Porte de Pantin, Paris. He sits near the piano. It is the un-time between
sound check and the Arkestras appearance at the Espace 1789 during Banlieues Bleues
Festival in the suburb of Saint-Ouen.
Marshall, you have been celebrating all last year. You have been celebrating your birthday.
You have been celebrating a hundred years of Sun Ra. And you know what? You just can continue celebrating this year, because you are going to be the leader of the band for 20 years.
O, I hope so! [broad and hilarious laughter] thirty years, or something. There would not
be anything different.
How was the last year for you?
It was pretty good. Not bad. The road got some kind of weary. You got to go travelling, were
you got no sleep. As a whole, it is good. I was happy to play and getting the soup stirred
up a little.
This situation of playing many concerts speeds you up somehow. Every time I see you on stage,
you look as if you are beaming.
Playing my mind and ready to go from place to place, that kind of keeps you going out for
it. As what happens on the travelling, just get out and have no sleep, I rest up as much as
I can. You know? I aint no superman. So, Ill have a little rest on the side. But otherwise, I
do have no big problems.
You had some times in your life, when the music of Sun Ra was not so much sought after
and you did not play so much concerts. Now I have the feeling that it is really coming, maybe
with the hundred years celebration and your birthday, you got more attention than in other
times.
You know thats a slight time. Times change, and again some times change, and after a
while it kind of goes on. It is like everything else that grows. When the flowers grow, they
start small. Next thing I know is a tree. And after a few years, so Give the people, and
live and live and live, and work and work and work, and one day people will understand,

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

Marshall Allen

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

what you do know. It is like everything else. Just let up the flowers grow, and they grow
and grow, and next time it is going to be a nice tree, or a bush. It grows up and it blooms.
All that is part of being determined and really wanting to do, to complete some, while I
am on the planet.
Bringing all this music to the people does mean something.
It means something for myself, for my wellbeing. Therefore I have to give it to others to
give it a nice try.
Now, Sun Ra said he is playing music for the 21st Century.
Well, he knew he would take people for he brought in a new generation in this thing. But
the time he said that he was totally standing in the 1950ies. So, we say a generation after
another generation, after an other generation, and we are still around. So your time will
come. So everybody starts in his time and needs his time, and it will come, when you keep
working.
So it took 50 years to take you
[Marshall Allen cant wait to respond! Out of a sudden, you see Marshall Allen switch
swiftly from an uncomplaining wise old man to an truly impatient one. He seems to switch
to being impatient, when it comes to playing his art, and he seems to be utmost patient
when it comes to developing his craft and personality. It is not contradictory for Marshall
Allen. It is part of his very distinct character as a bandleader and as a musician.]
Yeah, so all of a sudden its 50 years. You say what? Yes. 50 years. Another generation of
people.
Now we are I the 21st Century
So the music is for the 21st Century! We are on the turn in the 21st Century.
So do you think the mission is accomplished?
Not accomplished. It will never be accomplished. But it starts with the new generation of
people. And, therefore, it continues on to another generation, and continues all what is in
the music, and go on, and on, and on one generation take it after another.

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

Tyler Mitchel

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

How would you say? You have been the longest member in the band, besides Charles Davis.
Last man standing alone. The last man standing. It was what my nephew wrote. The last
man standing.
Yeah! I have read this somewhere. But you have gone through all this changes of the band.
And it is all just an adapter to the situation. That is how life is. You adapt. As you grow
older, you adapt to the things you wont do when you are younger. Except on me, keep
step. So, I keep the music out there because it is worthwhile. And it needs a lot of love and
energy and spirit and everything is within the music. So, this is the generation of people
who really try to give, to leave something of worth behind for the next generations. So,
that is O.K.
So, since I know the Arkestra, which is quite a while, I always had the feeling that it also
changes always a little with the people playing in the Arkestra.
Right, because we are playing for people and we are playing for their benefit and we are
playing for their wellbeing and we are playing for our wellbeing.
Is it what keeps Sun Ras oeuvre alive, all this different players putting some of their personality in the music?
Well, to keep this music alive is something that Sun Ra, alike all the music he wrote
we keep it alive and keep it going, to let people hear some masters, and (it are) different
people from before, they had what they had to offer. To add a certain enlightenment to the
people. So it might be part of, to do the natural feeling of music and things, like everybody
sees to remember it, to not knowing everything what feeling is up to, you see. So that way
it is the same with us. We know and in order to move on we got to spiritual balance to the
spirit of the music.
It seems to be a little posh to be influenced by Sun Ra nowadays.
So, he played quite a few different styles, and combinations of sounds and things like that.
That is why. It might not be heard today, but next year, the year after, or a little bit longer,
you listen to the music and [find] it wonderful. So you keep on growing, and grow with the
music. That is the way I see it anyway. That is the way I see it. So some music that he did
play I did not quite understand it, and than, later on it does something changed with

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

Knoel Scott

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

me, that made me hear some musical thing. But when it changes, you only have a better
understanding of what you are doing.
So, how do you feel about the fact, that Sun Rass influence spreads wide across the borders of
Jazz. Like it spreads into house music, into rock music and all different kind of music.
Well, he played all of those things, for one thing. And had such a mixture of things, so there
is something just for everyone, because of the many styles and the chord changes and the
sound and chaos, and sweet and nice and everything in perfect order all of that is in
there. Just like we live life. We have good, beautiful days of sunshine, and than rain, and
than there is storm, and than in the music it is the same way. It is like live is.
How would you estimate Sun Ras continuing legacy within the jazz genre?
Well, we just pass the hat, you know. We just pass the hat down to the next generation.
There is a lot of things to do with Sun Ras music, if you can do it. And I can do. And obviously the man could do. He had left a lot of room for imagination, for creativity. There we
go, the way it is. You change with the times and you put some old stuff in there, some stuff
that had been forgotten and bring it out.
I can only say what Sun Ras music means to me, and to me it is the presence of now. It happens in the moment.
That is the way I feel today. And you hear that today, but tomorrow, you will hear something else. Or, a song that will get you today, because you were in the mood and in the
thinking you were doing that did not yesterday. And it could be a song that you (already)
heard but you never heard it, and one day, you will feel something, out of the same song.
It is all that song that sounds a bit nice, because of the way that you are feeling and thinking. Something you cant hear something right away. The music is alive. It is alive along
with you. So, sometimes you dont hear these things, and you go back over, and then, you
understand because somehow you really understand what is happening now, other than
you did before. Or you have been looking at all the things that is within the music, besides
the melody, all the things that too make on off it. That is all I can say. Because you can play
a music and play a music and somehow you did not understand. Then, someday you will
understand that.
That might take a long time?

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

Marshall Allen

O, yes, that is according. It is just like I have said. Sometimes you can play a music (for)
years and never quite you know, you get it, but you dont. Then, one day it will all beat
everything. Music is like that.
When you look back at your 20 years of being the leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra, you have had
your ups and downs, but how would you say does the Arkestra develop in your hands, how
did the Arkestra develop in this time.
Thats the way it did. It just developed through the years. It is like growing up. You grow
up, and the little things that you did learn when you was younger, and little things all was
different, so you grow up and you can understand some of those things you did not when
you were younger. So, yeah, that is what this is about. You find things.

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

When you started to direct the Arkestra, you already were a musician with a very distinct
sound, with a real profile, and than you were put to being the leader of this Arkestra.
A, yeah, I did that because I was sincere of finding another way. I thought that was all,
that was to be there, but it wasnt. I had to work on what I know and use it, the spirit, and
mended and twisted around, and make the real feeling come out, and than people really
could feel that. They could feel the music. They can feel the expression, they can hear the
song. I play a lot of music like that. I played it, but that is not what it is supposed to be, of
how I was playing. And then one day, you wake up and you play it. Any you play with a kind
of feeling that it needs to be played with.
Would that be what you have called discipline?
You got to have some discipline in order to learn. You got to have discipline to learning. But
you keep trying and you keep doing. And you do amazing things, because you dont know
and you are doing it because you are spiritual of what is at the moment. And than you look
back and you say, O, that is nice, I cant even play that today in such a way. And these songs
get to you and they pull out the beauty when we can express notes. That is the thing about
music. So the music never gets old. You see to me, it is not old, it is the way to express, the
way it was intended to be expressed, the one way expresses another. But is an expression
of everybody who is writing music if it is some marches up with the rhythm of the
march, you see? And you can march along and parade, because I got this music [imitates
a march feeling with his voice]. So if you did let go and you will march. And you will find
out, O, that is a beautiful song because you are marching with some beautiful spirit. So you
play anything, that is all you can do. Play all music, but you got to express it. Feel it.
Did you ever have an idea were you want to put the Arkestra to, just I like, I want them to play
like this or like that?
You have ideas you put into the music. And they let them express these ideas. And then you
will play. And it goes this way and that way. Nice things come out. And they even do some
layer, you dont even think to do. Like life, just as I said. You are walking down the street.
All of a sudden you are just walking on this side of the street and then there is a whole. You
might fell in the bottom of this whole. The spirit just moves on, in the right or in the wrong,
along the trail. And with the music it is the same way. The arrangements that was made
at particular time? There is many other ways of expressing, many different arrangements.
These details need to be changed, all these tiny changes

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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Tara Middleton, Marshall Allen


Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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I have seen you work like this on the arrangements.


So most off it we did not put in the other one. I would take it out and put it in this one. It
keeps right on moving. So the music is a spiritual force.
However, not only tiny parts of arrangements move and morph from one composition to the
next. Sometimes also musicians get loose, lack or play elsewhere. That is what happens when
you try to get an at least 10-piece big band constantly on the road and on the move. Marshall Allen did quite an effort, to fill the gaps caused by the departure of original members
of the band to Saturn. While they might join in Sun Ras celestial Arkestra, the earthly Sun Ra
Arkestra had to renew itself physically as well as spiritually. Over a course of about a decade,
younger players adapted into the band, such as guitarist Dave Hotep, drummer Wayne Anthony Smith Jr., or vocalist Tara Middleton and the Sun Ra successor Farid Barron on the piano.
They never really substituted the former members, however, the younger members did put a
new spice to the stew. Sun Ra said he would chose musicians with a sense of Arkestration,
Discipline and precision. But what to do, when, surely not by coincidence, the entire chordand rhythm-unit of the Sun Ra Centennial Arkestra expected to play in Paris is going to lack
on stage? Piano player Farid Barron could not fly in from Philadelphia, due to some difficulties with his travel documents, and guitarist Dave Hotep could not make it, because he had
been booked for another gig already long ago. They have to fit in someone else, someone they
know since the New Thing came up during their 1960ies stay in New York, someone who is
familiar with their idiom, though, he does not know the repertoire at all.
Tonight you are going to play with Bobby Few on the piano.
Thats good. It is on the piano and I had forgot it was on there. But that kid can play.
But this is going to put a different spirit to the music.
O, it has to change, because one person makes the whole band change. It is no big thing
about that. We already know that and we can do everything that we want to do with
somebody who studied with us a long time. So, you have to create something that suits
him, fit him to, put him in there with us. So, you will see tonight, because he does not
know the book, but we have to play the music, so we will make different arrangements,
different arrangements with him. That is the way it is! We do it anyway. There is nobody
who knows what we are doing or what they are supposed to do, because they dont know.
When we practice the music they know, they get there ready, because they know. When

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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James Stuart

I say, pick up our horn, when I raise my hand, they do know nothing. Then, what are they
going to do? They are playing down on the note, they hear the chord, and somebody playing it. Say, you are playing it. They tune in, everybody tune in. You can do that. You can
make a brand new composition, a suite book of the day. That is the way I feel today. It is
simple. If you got some discipline and you want to do it, and you are paying attention and
you are not distracted by looking around and then paying attention, of course not. You pay
attention and you try to get into what is being done at the time with your feeling and
your expression and you give my base sound and you make this composition. Sometimes
it would be beautiful, better than when people sit down and write. There are more variations in it, more art things and sounds. So that is when you tune in to each other and you
are concentrating on making this composition Nobody knows what it is. You take it from
word starts and build it up.
You are a master in directing the Arkestra in a way, which makes the people wake up on stage.
Everybody is looking at you. You are conducting in a way, everybody is tuned into you.

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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Yeah, it is like that. The composition will come out. They dont know what it is. It is nice.
Because then it is done and you sit down and write it. You have to show everybody and
then it goes like O, wait a minute there is some 8th b missing, or there will be a quarter
note there, or, you see? Because they know and they look at the music, and then you
know. But if I dont have no music, there is no quarter note in or quarter note out that is
part of that composition, you see. It is a feeling. It is a vibe. Vibes mute.
Do you have anybody in your mind whom you could teach how to direct this Arkestra?
No, they direct it the way they would direct it, not the way I direct it, because I dont think,
(they) think like me. Each personnel has its own personality. It is just like this. It is easy. So,
when you talk about music, dont get away from what is natural, that you just create, who
you say you belong to this song. And it is not written and it is created. So they can say O, no.
You are supposed to play this note. But in life it is like that. So if you kept on walking on this
side of the street you fell on the bottom but you didnt because you moved over that way.
So you see. So there was no bad note, no bad note over there, because you did that note.
I know you dont worry about bad notes. You just play them and do something else. You just
go on.
So I just tune in and (be) pal with what you are feeling. There aint no predicted feeling,
which way you go, which way is down, which way is up.
But what I am wondering about is, that an Arkestra like this, like with 14 piece or more pieces,
you have to take care of, it does not just run by a feeling. There has to be something behind,
which is more than a feeling.
Everybody gets the call and there you have the word of the day. You hear people say, what
is the word of the day? [He laughs] You see? You might not say the right word and the other
day it is good. But that is the way it is. It is the music. You are dealing with sound. You are
not afraid. You are not wrong.
Thats good.
You are not wrong. So you build a composition, put it to grow, and then. So it is a thing I
cant tell you what to do. I might can say something. Do this, do dudeluduu dudududelu,
dudeluduu dudu. Then, you are going to do that and all these other people. I can tell ev-

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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Elson Nascimento
Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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erybody to play this, play that, play this, play that. I can tell them to play anything. I can
tell them to play in coalition. It aint the chord written out like were you play this note, you
play that note. They might be playing notes right on top of each other, you see. For the
sound. Then, some times you listen, that you would not write that. You know what I mean.
And then when it is going without the music, they have been causing each other and [he
imitates an interaction between several musicians on stage with his voice, that somehow
sounds like a muddling through of different characters along with each other]. Then you
see, you have got some kind of weird composition, but it is very nice, because you have got
all this degrees of sound, and sound on top of the sound. Stuck! Now when you are writing
this stuff you aint writing it clean like in the book. But the scale with the chord and this
composition, you know what chord it is. They are probably on top of each other and make
it sound like. Then you got the instruments, lets put it in different pitch and time. So it will
become quite interesting.
Sun Ras method of taking the best out of people, getting the most individual out of the people, was dragging them
You work and people see and hear your sound, they hear what you have been saying and
give you something and then let you go with the music. And we are doing it altogether.
Then, when we make a composition, we are all up to do it together. It cant be just one
man trying to make something and everybody else is out to lunch. Everybody get to mate
the sound, to make the composition. They know what composition is. It is all these things
come together, of place and fill out the place, and fit, follow up on each other and come
out, you see?
What is your method when you train young musicians.
I teach them to listen. I teach them to play a note in a certain way, there is many was you
can play it. You can play it the way I feel it should be played. And then, learn the sound.
All of the basic things. Because if you got the basic, you got the sound, you got the scale,
you got the half stuff, you got the quarter steps, you got the out of tune steps, you got everything to feel and play. So you need a chord dah and you need some hook didididadik so it will be all art from that but moving, do it. It is like abstract painting. So they
start with the bass and they abstract. You can look at an abstract painting grow in all kind
of ways. So, the abstract painting in sound. So, I will show you what I am doing when I get
on the stand and I have to do that because they all got of no order, to stop on the square.
That is the sense. So we all go bowudod rolling and winning.
What does the Sun Ra House on Morton Street mean to you?
Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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Danny Thompson

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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It is somewhere you can study. You can be quiet or you can be noisy. It is up to you. You can
study, or you dont. You see? But its a place that musicians need, all the musicians need. Its
quite for to do whatever they have to do, to study or practice. Most people dont have that.
Most musicians dont have this.
What does it mean to you?
If you work on in the chemicals, if you are working on those things, if you got a nice quiet
place you concentrate on what you are doing without the whole bunch of blablablabla, no
other disturbances. For musicians they have to have that so that they can hear and they
hear sound and they develop themselves.
Do you feel like the keeper of this house?
Well, I am kind of, I am the keeper of the house for those who need it. They need, those
people, because they need to study, they need to develop and do that and without a whole
lot of abstract and run around. So, when you have somewhere to study, just like having a
studio and you are doing painting work you can have all bunch of everything else in this
room. You have it there. So, if anybody comes, another artist, it flows, because the vibes
is good all together. So to have a place to study is a thing that, you cant do it at home,
probably with the kids and the wife and this and that, and this and that. Here you could
come and do what you please. You can study the music or study your instrument or study
anything you want to, a good study. You know they have a study hall. That is what this is,
a study hall.
So you have been living all your life in a study hall?
Thats right. So, there is no excuse for me, because I am a kind of privileged for having a
place that you can play day and night, or all you want. Do all the things that you need to
do, to learn, or to re-learn, which way you want to put it.
So, you are pretty much doing the same thing now, like you used to do 20 years ago.
No, because I had other things on my mind, until I wore it of in those days, those things is
not important to me as it was then. Because since I have done those things, I am going to
leave that alone, some (I) leave alone. I am leaving all those little things that comes in life
but least I had them all now. So, I can have a study hall. So, if you want to study, and study

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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Bobby Few

something particular, you aint got all these little distractions. Every five minutes I walk out
to see Cecil [Taylor, who lives in the house], or I got to do this, or I got to do that. You had to
do nothing, but get down and develop something of worth.
How do you feel about this, when you are on the road?
I feel good! All I feel here is just running up and down, (I do) the things (that) I am not doing much more, when I am on the road, like running from one place to another.
Otherwise you would sit in your house and study?
Or writing in the hotel here and develop some, and do the work I need to do and whatever.
But now by time I get a kind of comfortable to do something until it is time to go. That is

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the only thing about it, just running, running, running. Then, you can meet interesting
people doing different things and that is interesting.
So you have a kind of split life.
It is just you may be at home, maybe some cooking, maybe you do reading, maybe you are
doing your little thing, and then, you get some old folks come in and they do some different things, which inspire you, because you have been doing this what you are doing, and
that is all, do some of that. But on the road it is no problem. It is just running from place to
place, constantly running when you dont want to. Or you got to get up and go catch the
train, or you will be late I mean those kind of things. But then, I have been doing it all
of my life anyway. The thing is, I could do some else stuff I had not been doing, which is a
bunch of nothing. He got a bunch of nothing to, and some of it did not do nothing. But now
I do it, I feel like today I do it, what I am like to feel to do. I got space in the room to do and
nobody bother me. So that is one good thing about it. The other thing is when you change
your mind about the things you do, and when you do that It is like, if you dont want to
smoke no more, you put the cigarette down, put it out and no bother, because you really
dont want to smoke no more. And you dont smoke, you see.
But you still smoke.
But I am saying, if you want to do. I dont have to take no medicine to stop smoking. But I
did not get down to the point of where I say I had enough. Just like drinking. I always had
a bottle of some, wine, gin, I always had. Now I got to stop and look at it as if its no longer
on the tape.
It does not bother you?
No, I can decide if I want a drink. It is not that I dont drink. But today the whiskey can get
dust on it. So, I did all of that. So I know what it is like and I know what it does, and you
know those things, and occasionally I get me a new drink and take one. But you take of it
just enough to satisfy you and you go back to do the things you want to, you need to do.
Like it or whatever. And all the things that I thought I like so well most of those things it is
sichouuuh [He makes a sound, as if a rocket takes off for space]
It is gone?
Gone! It is just like a run. O, I could not stay home for five minutes. I got to go there. I got to

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Bobby Few, Tara Middleton

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do this. Now this is all due. The whole thing changed. I just stay at home because I can get
something done. You see? I have got an idea and instead of running somewhere else I just
work on the idea which is on.
But this change, is it because you are getting older?
No. If you do the same thing long enough, you can leave it alone and do something else.
That is what I am saying. All these things I did, wasting time, and not really wasting time,
but growing up.
So you get more focused?
Now, I get more focused on what I want to do, or what I should do, what I need to do.
What you think you need to do right now?
I need to do whatever is needed. Put it that way. What I just needed. So I am sitting down
here and I need to talk a little bit, so I am talking a little bit. I dont know every day because
it is like life is, it changes. See, so I know this. And tomorrow it changes. So today I do not
know nothing but feeling my way is the same. So, what is best for you, you should find.
Find something that is just good for you. And let those get away, anything that is not too
good. Might be a waste of time. Be happy and live it now. [He laughs his typical high and
hoarse laugh]
Youve been living now.
That is right!
Do you have any plans for the Arkestra this year?
No, I have no plans. I keep playing my music and keep on just happy, and feel positive to
what you are set out to do and do it. And set out to do something and find a whole lot of
abstract stuff in our way, a lot of stumbling blocks. So there aint no excuse. Just go do what
you are going to do. Because you got one time around. On time to do it, do it. If you want
do not, do nothing. Enjoy your life, just live it. Just breath and let it out.
I just do what you want me to do for today. What I want to do today? I dont feel like playing
on the piano alone. I know what. I can shine a chair up over there or I could sweep the floor.
I could do a lot of things until the place is nice. It is a lot of things you do that you need. I

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am saying, put the things that you dont really need out of the way. They are secondary.
That is all I was saying.
How does a day in the life of Marshall Allen look like? What is your favorite time of the day?
When I wake up at ten oclock. That is good. Because sometime I will be up all night doing
something else. When I am by myself, if I got no one to bother me, and I can sleep until
ten oclock, I will sleep. Everybody bothers me. When I have all the things I have to do I will
get up and do them. But when I am on myself I say, what do I have to do tomorrow? What
I had to do, so Id be down before twelve and eat my breakfast. And I will be out at to play
my number before one oclock, before the first number come out. And all the little things
that I like to do. It is good. And if I win because I am going to have some more money to
buy some food or buy something that I need. And put the money down on the table and go
to get the work I do, something I fee like doing, whatever it is. But I am not all up and run
around. Just be cool and do what you fell you would like to do for today.
Would you wish more financial success for your music?
If I would have a bunch of money that would not stop me from doing what I am doing. I
have gotten so that money dont. I can have a pocket full of money and still got to worry
about what I will do, or what I should do. The money wont change me. It will only change
the people around me. Because when they see money they will go crazy and get wild. O.K.
you got some money, so what? So I am just here. Nothing bothers me so I have no worries.
And I dont worry too much about things. That is part of that. So I am always looking for
something that makes me feel good and make me happy for the day, what else? That is the
way Id be. I dont worry about money, about rent. I just do my work. And if I have forget
about it what I have done, I do it all over.

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Impressum
Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now
Interviewed and photographed by Sibylle Zerr
Sibylle Zerr - all rights reserved
Jazz Essay 1/2015 - published on May 1. 2015
Edition Sibylle Zerr
Hauptstrae 26
D-78730 Lauterbach (Schwarzwald)
http://www.sibylle-zerr.de

Marshall Allen. The Omnipresence of Now - Interviewed & photographed by Sibylle Zerr

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