University Jazz Band

Event details

Fergus Quill  director

Immeasurable Equation: The Music of Sun Ra

University Jazz Band returns to perform the music of the pioneering bandleader, composer and performer Sun Ra. Join them for what promises to be an unforgettable night of music, celebrating one of the most innovative figures in the history of jazz!

Having grown up in the big band tradition, arranging and performing with swing stalwarts, such as Coleman Hawkins and Fletcher Henderson, Sun Ra went on to form his interstellar 'Arkestra'. With an ever-changing line-up of anywhere between 15 and 35 musicians, the ensemble played Sun Ra's original compositions and engaged in large-scale collective improvisation. The Sun Ra Arkestra is still active today and is known for its distinctive performance style, incorporating outfits that reflect Sun Ra's fascination with Egyptology and the mysteries of outer space. Arkestra members also regularly venture into the audience, playing and singing among them.

University Jazz Band focuses on performances of large-ensemble jazz and improvised music from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Recent projects have included performances of the works of Charles Mingus and J Dilla. The ensemble is directed by the award-winning arranger and composer Fergus Quill, who has collaborated with artists such as John Zorn and Hermeto Pascoal. He was also involved with the debut album of saxophonist Marshall Allen, the current musical director of The Sun Ra Arkestra, which was released to coincide with Allen's one-hundred-and-first birthday.