Black Bird Press News & Review

Monday, May 23, 2016

Martin Luther King in Ghana, West Africa, 1957

JUSTICE INITIATIVE

Note: We hear mostly about Martin Luther King. Jr. in Montgomery, Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma or Washington, DC, but rarely about his international travel. In 1957, Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King attended the independence ceremony in Ghana where King met Ghana's new president Kwame Nkrumah; spent time with other American leaders, also attending, such as A. Philip Randolph, Ralph Bunche, Mordecai Johnson, Horace Mann Bond, Senator Charles Diggs, and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell; met Vice President Richard Nixon who was also attending; and then while traveling through London on his way home he meets with Trinidadian scholar C.L.R. James. The degree to which Black Americans and Africans communicated before and particularly after WWII is impressive as Africa and those in the United States attempted to wrench their countries from the oppressive yoke of white supremacy and colonialism. For more information about Dr. King and the civil rights movement please go to the King Papers under the leadership of Dr. Clayborne Carson at Stanford University.

Heather Gray

Martin Luther King's Ghana Trip (1957)

In March 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife Coretta Scott King traveled to West Africa to attend Ghana's independence ceremony. King's voyage was symbolic of a growing global alliance of oppressed peoples and was strategically well timed; his attendance represented an attempt to broaden the scope of the civil rights struggle in the


President Kwame Nkrumah and Martin Luther King - Ghana 1957

United States on the heels of the successful Montgomery bus boycott. King identified with Ghana's struggle; furthermore, he recognized a strong parallel between resistance against European colonialism in Africa and the struggle against racism in the United States.

King was invited to the independence ceremony by Ghana's new Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah. King's friend Bayard Rustin coordinated the invitation with the help of Bill Sutherland, a civil rights activist and pacifist who was then working for Nkrumah's finance minister, K. A. Gbedemah. King's trip was funded by the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, his congregation.

King arrived in Accra, the Gold Coast (soon to be Ghana), on 4 March and attended a reception where he met Vice President Richard Nixon. King told Nixon, "I want you to come visit us down in Alabama where we are seeking the same kind of freedom the Gold Coast is celebrating" ("M.L. King Meets"). The next day, King attended the ceremonial closing of the old British Parliament. At the ceremony, the recently incarcerated Nkrumah and his ministers wore their prison caps, symbolizing their struggle to win Ghana's freedom. King wrote "When I looked out and saw the prime minister there with his prison cap on that night, that reminded me of that fact, that freedom never comes easy. It comes through hard labor and it comes through toil" (Papers 4:163).

At midnight on 6 March, King attended the official ceremony in which the British Union Jack was lowered and the new flag of Ghana was raised and the British colony of the Gold Coast became the independent nation of Ghana. King later recalled,"As we walked out, we noticed all over the polo grounds almost a half a million people. They had waited for this hour and this moment for years" (Papers 4:159). King's reaction to the Ghanaians' triumph was outwardly emotional. "Before I knew it, I started weeping. I was crying for joy. And I knew about all of the struggles, and all of the pain, and all of the agony that these people had gone through for this moment" (Papers 4:160).

Also in attendance at the ceremony were many prominent American activists, politicians, and educators: A. Philip Randolph, Ralph Bunche, Mordecai Johnson, Horace Mann Bond, Senator Charles Diggs, and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell. The honor of inclusion in this impressive group indicated King's prominence as a civil rights figure both at home and abroad.

Interviewed while in Ghana, King told radio listeners, "This event, the birth of this new nation, will give impetus to oppressed peoples all over the world. I think it will have worldwide implications and repercussions--not only for Asia and Africa, but also for America....It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of justice. And it seems to me that this is fit testimony to the fact that eventually the forces of justice triumph in the universe, and somehow the universe itself is on the side of freedom and justice. So that this gives new hope to me in the struggle for freedom" (Papers 4:146).

Despite falling ill for several days, the Kings had a private lunch with Prime Minister Nkrumah and met with anti-apartheid activist and Anglican priest Michael Scott and peace activist Homer Jack. King departed from Ghana for New York by way of Nigeria, Rome, Geneva, Paris and London. In London, the Kings had lunch with Trinidadian writer and political activist C.L. R. James, who was very impressed by the success of the Montgomery bus boycott.

SOURCES

Introduction in Papers 4:7-10.

King, "The Birth of a New Nation," Sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, 7 April 1957, in Papers 4:155-167.

King, Interview with Etta Moten Barnett, 6 March 1957, in Papers 4:145-148.

"M.L. King Meets Nixon in Ghana,"Pittsburgh Courier, 16 March 1957.

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Save the Date: Next Black Arts Movement Business District Town Hall Meeting, Sunday, June 12, 3-5pm, East Side Arts Alliance

The next Black Arts Movement Business District Town Hall is scheduled for Sunday, June 12/2016, 3-5pm at East Side Arts Alliance.

Touchstones to be considered as umbrellas to build under

Housing

Anti-Displacement

Preservation

Additional space

Land Trust

Below Market Rate Art and Live space

City Owned Property (SRO’s and other)

Engagement with ongoing Development -- Built into future housing.

Rent Moratorium on Black Cultural Spaces/ Addition to Land Trust

Commerce

Creation and support of events unique to area’s intention and cultural designation.

Micro-lending to support entrepreneurial endeavors

Sidewalk vending

Market Days

City partner business installed in open venues owned by city where the city contribution is the space at a steeply discounted rate (i.e., $100.00 for a 66-year lease.)

Create tourism targeted events

Public performances in public spaces

Pop-up Art in public spaces

Plaza performances/ public installations of live art

Equitable Public Support of Artist and Cultural

Workers

Actively engage in an analysis of Oakland’s cultural funding suggest and lobby for reforms and or enhancements as deemed necessary.

Resolve issues of funding equity and equality in opportunity recognizing systemic barriers such as annual budget, and the number of volunteers etc.

Connect to cultural corridor funding and all possible funding -- leave nothing on the table

Development of Intellectual Capital

Museum - Community Access

Library

Research Centers

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Donald Trump, shut the fuck up about women!

Even before and certainly after a man deposits his seed in the womb of a woman, he has no rights over the control of her womb and the fruit thereof. Male politicians need to stay out of all issues relating to the body of women. Yes, stick to men's business! You'll be doing great if you can handle men's issues, which is doubtful--alas, you may need the help of women on these issues.

"Men don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. They must ask their woman, Baby, where's my asshole!" (from the monologue, One Day in the Life, a docudrama by Marvin X)

"Look, when I jump my pussy jumps, therefore my pussy belongs to me!" --Rashidah Mwongozi Sabreen in The Mythology of Pussy and Dick by Marvin X.

Donald, I have my own agenda but if I can help a human being, I will do so, so this is my message to you: Make no more statements about women, focus on American issues, international issues and men issues. Leave all statements regarding women to experts on your dream team. You claim you are a winner but you are acting like a loser and you will lose if you alienate women. I know you love women and I love women but your mouth can defy your ass so please shut up on women issues. Men love you because you speak like a man with his nuts out the sand, so don't alienate the women who are with you 100%, such as your wife, children and grandchildren. Again, I am not with you but I am not against you. --Marvin X

Maestro Marvin X, accompanied by the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, featuring David Murray and Earle Davis, all three associated with the Sun Ra Arkestra. This performance was at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland, 2014. Marvin X is reading Amiri Baraka's poem DOPE. photo Adam Turner

Dear Donald,

I write to you as the father of three daughters, six sisters, a mother, three mothers of my children and several women who impacted my life on the most deepest level and I am forever grateful to all the females in my life.

Most importantly, people who observe me in my private life, say I am most humble when in conversation with my daughters. Indeed, my daughters have taught me humility as per relations with the feminine gender. One reason is because as the father of two sons, one transitioned and one totally alienated, I had to fall back on my daughters for spiritual and emotional support. But much to my surprise, my daughters sent me into shock when I saw their elegance in representing aspects of my personality. It was then that I had to deconstruct my addiction to the patriarchal mythology. I saw my daughters represented every dream I had for my sons. This rocked my patriarchal world to the deepest level, and yet I was proud of my daughters for representing me and thus continuing the tradition every parent desires of his children, especially when the claim no connection with the family tradition. In truth, the DNA is so strong we continue the family tradition no matter what, yes, often in total ignorance we are carrying on every dream of the ancestors.

I note that you have two sons who are involved in your world and this is great. I don't know if you have daughters, but if you do, I'm sure you are not keeping them below the glass curtain. As parents, we want the best for our sons and daughters and we never know which of them will assume the authority of our desires because DNA is like that.

We can see in our deepest dreams our children take up the baton and carry on even though we have never had a conversation on the matter and they assume what they are doing is on their dime rather than ours.

Most often this is amazing to us when we see they are indeed in the tradition but don't realize it.
I desire only the best for my daughters. I do not want the glass ceiling to stop them from their life goals and, I must admit, they continue to excel, except one daughter who is yet excelling but has totally given up on America and its white supremacy mythology. "Dad, Ghana may not have electricity 24/7 but Ghana doesn't have white supremacy 24/7. When I go to a four star hotel, nobody follows me around in Accra. When I go to an expensive store in Accra, nobody follows me around. And I have no desire to raise my daughter in a white supremacy toxic environment. I urge you to join me in Ghana.

Donald,
I am not for you or against you--do your thing. But man to man, I suggest you say nothing else about women issues. As I watch you perform on the political stage, I wonder how many times can you shoot yourself in the foot. As I am known as a foot shooter myself, I suggest you back yo ass up a little for your sake and the American people you want to save from perdition.

I am a revolutionary Black nationalist so I have no problem with you as a white nationalist. Do your thang. As per your building a wall at the border, America has the right to seal her borders. Mexicans have many issues as you have pointed out. I love Mexico and Mexicans because this nation gave me refuge during my exile as a resister to the war in Vietnam in 1970. Not only did Mexico give me refuge, but I was there with brothers and sisters from throughout Latin America, e.g., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia and elsewhere. We all are in gratitude for Mexico giving us refuge from US Imperialism. And yet this does not absolve Mexico for the slaughter of students at the University a few months before I arrived in 1970. This does not absolve Mexico for the disappearance of parents who came to the University looking for their children.

But what about US students who were slaughtered at Kent State and the Orangeburg massacure in South Carolina. Or the brutal, violent and longest student strike in American academic history at San Francisco State University to establish Black Studies and Ethnic Studies.

Black Bird Press News & Review: Donald Trump - Black Muslims support Trump

Update: Black Arts Movement Business District

Black Arts Movement Business District

Greetings all,

I hope that you are well and we appreciate your attendance at BAMBD town Hall. Below is summary of our time together . Also if you were one of the people Dr. Ayodele said she needs to speak with, reply to email listing with specific skill set and availability to connect via phone or in person over the next two week. At the end of the summary are helpful links to learn more about B.A.M.B.D. The next Town hall is scheduled 6/16/16 3-6 pm @ East Arts Alliance. Please share with your network! Below are next steps before we meet again.

1) Write a letter of support on behalf of yourself or organizations/collectives in support of Black Arts Business District (down town Oakland and Black Cultural Zone in east Oakland.

2) Join Black Arts Movement and Business district facebook group

3) Write Letter of Support for Community benefits for the development of 14th and Alice parking lot which is scheduled on the Planning Commission calendar for June 1 (whom to send it to will be coming in the following days)

4) Register your Business to B.A.O.B.O.B: Bay Area Organization of Black-Owned Businesses

B.A.M..B. D TOWN HALL NOTES 5/13

by Aries Jordan

On Friday, May 13, Black artists, cultural workers and business owners gathered at the Eastside Arts Alliance for the Black Art Movement Business District Town Hall Meeting.. The organizations represented included Kiss My Black Arts Collective, Cal Shakespeare, BAOBOB - Bay Area Organization of Black Owned Businesses,Betty Ono Gallery Lower Bottom Playaz, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Reginas Door, 8 Ft Tall, Support Malonga Coalition, Cat Brooks of Anti Police-Terror Project, 57th Street Collective and Uptown Makers Collective. Also present was various Black Culture workers and Artist.

The five pillars of B.A.M.B.D were introduced and expanded upon by participants:

Housing
Commerce
Equity for artists
Proliferation and dissemination of intellectual capital
Increased access to services

There was a great deal of excitement about partaking in the building of a community driven Black Cultural Zone and Black Arts Movement Business District. A plethora of ideas were generated under the five pillars to benefit the marginalized ethnic communities and Oakland at large. Community members engaged in productive exchange about what is necessary in building a cultural district and what skills they are willing to contribute.

Several key people have been identified who have the necessary skills to implement the next steps of Black Arts Movement Business District. Community members voiced concern about city officials and individuals making proprietary decisions about the Black Arts Movement District without community input.

Recently, a couple of banners were put up in the heart of the district (14th and Franklin Streets) featuring photos of local Black Artist stating “ I love craft” with no mention of the Black Arts Movement Business District.

In prior meetings the Red, Black and Green flag was requested as the primary banner along with arts and craft vendors in the corridor to inspire entrepreneurship.Other concerns were projects and developments approved prior to the establishment of district that does not incorporate community benefits.

One project in the BAMBD is the parking lot at 14th and Alice. According to Eric Arnold, "The lot on 14th and Alice has been scheduled on the Planning Commission calendar for June 1, and requested letters of support for community benefits, BAMBD, and the Malonga Center to be submitted to the Commission prior to the meeting. There was a community meeting about this project a few months ago (which was covered in the East Bay Express --- the article is here http://www.eastbayexpress.com/…/plans-unveiled-for-384-new-…

The town hall concluded with participants pledging to synthesize efforts to fight displacement and write letters of support for the Black Arts Movement District. Letters of support can be sent to BAMBDistrict@gmail.com. The next BAMBD Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for June 16th at Eastside Alliance 3-6pm.

Eastside Arts Alliance is located at 23rd and International, Oakland.

Helpful links to lear more about B.A.M.B.D

B.A.M.B.Historical sites within B.A.M.B.D corridor 14th street:

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/report/oak055818.pdf

Post Article: legislation:https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/350bayarea/pages/2409/attachments/original/1452281545/01-06-16_Oakland_Post.pdf?1452281545Oakland

East Bay Express:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/will-oakland-lose-its-artistic-soul/Content?oid=4679618

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/CultureSpyBlog/archives/2016/03/31/the-fight-to-save-betti-ono-continues

Black Bird Press:

http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/search?q=Black+arts+movement+business+district

Sun Ra, Black Arts Movement co-founder, Mystic, Philosopher: Hapi b Day, Sun Ra, May 22, 1914

"America, the Devil don't even want you--you not even suitable for hell!"--Sun Ra

Happy Birthday Sun Ra

Herman Poole Blount was born on May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, Planet Earth. Sun Ra was interested in music from an early age and by the time he was eleven he was able to sight read and compose music on piano. Growing up in Birmingham allowed him to catch famous Jazz musicians traveling through including Flecther Henderson, Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

In his teens Sun Ra was able to listen to a big band perform and go home and write full transcriptions of the performance by ear and also began playing professionally as a teen. At the age of ten Sun Ra joined the Knights of Pythias and would remain with the group through high school.

This Masonic Lodge provided him to unlimited access to books and their books on Freemasonry and other subjects of the like influenced him heavily. In high school Ra studied with music teacher John T "Fess" Whatley who had a reputation for producing many great musicians. In 1934 Sun Ra began playing professionally full time with a former teacher named Ethel Harper and after she left the group Sun took over and called it the Sonny Blount Orchestra.

In 1936 Ra was awarded a scholarship to attend Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University and studied music for one year before having an experience that would change the course of his life.

In 1937 during deep meditation Sun Ra briefly left this planet and traveled to Saturn and received important information about his path. In his own words, "… my whole body changed into something else. I could see through myself. And I went up … I wasn't in human form … I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn … they teleported me and I was down on [a] stage with them.

They wanted to talk with me. They had one little antenna on each ear. A little antenna over each eye. They talked to me. They told me to stop [attending college] because there was going to be great trouble in schools … the world was going into complete chaos … I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me." Following this experience Sun Ra returned to Birmingham and worked frantically within music and reformed the Sonny Blount Orchestra which was well received in the area.

In the early 1940s Sun Ra was drafted in U.S. Military but was very much against war and killing which led to him being placed in jail for his beliefs. After being released in 1943 Ra returned home before moving north to Chicago.

In Chicago Ra began working with singer Wynonie Harris and made his recording debut in 1946 on the singles 'Dig This Boogie/Lightning Struck the Poorhouse' and 'My Baby's Barrelhouse/Drinking By Myself'. In 1946 Ra was hired by Fletcher Henderson to play piano and arrange music for the band and in 1948 performed in a trio with Coleman Hawkins and Stuff Smith.

Living in Chicago also influenced Ra and he was very interested in the city's many Egyptian style buildings and continued educating himself with books like "Stolen Legacy" written by George G.M. James. In 1952 Sun Ra formed the Space Trio with Tommy Hunter and Pat Patrick and also legally changed him name to Le Sony'r Ra. Soon John Gilmore and Marshall Allen would join the band and some other members during this period in Chicago would include James Spaulding, Von Freeman and Julian Priester.

Also in the 1950s Ra met Alton Abraham who would become his good friend, business manager and shared similar interests and beliefs as Ra. Sun Ra and Abraham also printed pamphlets and would hand them on the street about their beliefs and many of these can be read in the book "The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra's Polemical Broadsheets and Streetcorner Leaflets" published in 2006.

Some of the Arkestra's recordings from the 1950s include 'Sound Sun Pleasure', 'Sun Song', 'Sound of Joy', 'Angels and Demons at Play' and 'We Travel the Spaceways'.

In 1961 the Arkestra moved to New York City and was able to find a regular gig at Slug's Saloon. This helped spread Sun Ra's popularity and for the most part he was well received. Though Ra would still experience hecklers from time but did receive support and encouragement from some very notable Jazz musicians including Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. The building the band lived in New York was sold in 1968 and a result they relocated to the Germantown section of Philadelphia and that would be their home base till the end and were known as very good neighbors due to their friendliness and drug free living. Sun Ra was a major influence on the Black Arts Movement and worked with Amiri Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem.

Marvin X performed with him in Harlem and later in Philly. Marvin became a disciple after interviewing Sun Ra for five hours at his Morton Street home.

Also in '68 Sun Ra toured the West Coast for the first time and even followers of the Greatful Dead would have altering experiences listening to Sun Ra. This tour led to Ra being featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine in 1969. The Arkestra began touring Europe in 1970 and was very well received and in 1971 Ra fulfilled one of his dreams by performing with his band at the pyramids in Egypt.

Also in 1971 Sun Ra was became the artist-in-residence at University of California, Berkeley and taught a course called "The Black Man In the Cosmos." Some of the required reading for this course included the Book of the Dead, Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons and The Book of Oahspe and the works of Madame Blavatsky and Henry Dumas.

During his tenure at UC Berkeley, Sun Ra worked at Marvin X's Your Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore District. Sun Ra arranged music for Marvin X's Take Care of Business, the musical version of his first play Flowers for the Trashman. Marvin was in disbelief when Sun Ra told him he would be lecturing in Black Studies at UC Berkeley, especially since Gov. Ronald Reagan had banned him from teaching at Fresno State University in 1969, the same year he banned Angela Davis from teaching at UCLA. Marvin X was hired to teach journalism and theatre, producing a myth-ritual dance drama entitled Resurrection of the Dead.

In the mid and late '70s the Arkestra would perform locally in Philadelphia giving free concerts in a local park on the weekends and also had a stint as the house band at the Squat Theater in New York City in 1979.

Sun Ra and his Arkestra continued playing and recording in the 1980s and 1990s and Ra was well known as a part of Philadelphia by this time. He would often be a guest on local radio and give lectures locally as well. In 1990 Ra suffered a stroke but still continued to compose and perform until leaving this planet in 1993. Sun Ra leaves a legacy on this planet as a visionary artist dedicated beyond all else to convince mankind to face the fact they need to change their destructive and greedy ways as well as repair the self worth of African-Americans after the unimaginable abuse they have been through. Musically, Ra pushed any boundaries into oblivion as his musical imagination could not fit into any type of category or box. Sun Ra was one of the first in Jazz to use electronics and introduce the idea of collective free form improvisation. Ra's music and mythology has inspired so many people to not only develop themselves mentally and physically, but to explore the unknown and evolve spiritually.

"It's better to deal with the people who have intuition now. You see, they don't know what they're doing. The ones who do know what they're doing, haven't proven anything."
"Because everything that's unknown is part of the myth. And I'm sure that the myth can do more for humanity than anything they ever dreamed possible." - Sun Ra

The Differences

Sometimes in the amazing ignorance
I hear things and see things
I never knew I saw and heard before
Sometimes in the ignorance
I feel the meaning
Invincible invisible wisdom,
And I commune with intuitive instinct
With the force that made life be
And since it made life be
It is greater than life
And since it let extinction be
It is greater than extinction.
I commune with feelings more than
prayer
For there is nothing else to ask for
That companionship is
And it is superior to any other is.
Sometimes in my amazing ignorance
Others see me only as they care to see
I am to them as they think
According the standard I should not be
And that is the difference between I and them
Because I see them as they are to is
And not the seeming isness of the was.
--Sun Ra

Marvin X on Sun Ra

Happy earth day, Sun Ra, no matter where you are in the spirit world of the universe.You are the Supreme Prophet of First Poet's Church. RA! RA! RA! We forever love you and praise you for teaching us how to submit to leadership or what is also known as discipline. This is the most crucial lesson for North American Africans, learning to submit and thus respect leadership. But of course the leader must be highly disciplined himself, above his carnal nature and focused on his/her spiritual mission, in service of the Creator God.

All artists, poets, writers, musicians, theatre persons, must learn the Sun Ra method of creative discipline, a holistic approach to life in the arts, how to bring all the genres together into a whole mythological order through creative ritual. And this includes a melting of art and audience, what we called Ritual Theatre. Sun Ra taught us all how to ritualize theatre by breaking down that wall and destroying the comfort of the audience, yet making them one with the myth/ritual moment in time and space.

Sun Ra demonstrated the eternity of time, beyond the finite into the everlastingness of it all. And so we are indeed the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists, updating our ancestors for the present time and eternity.
--Marvin X

Marvin X and Sun Ra outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, O'farrel St., between Fillmore and Webster, San Francisco, 1972. The Sun Ra/Marvin X artistic relationship began when Marvin X arrived in Harlem, NY, 1968. Sun Ra is one of the Black Arts Movement founders. He was a member of Amiri Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, Harlem, 1968. Young scholars consider Sun Ra the father of Afro-futurism or Black Si-Fi, Octavia Butler, the mother.

Sun Ra and Marvin X were teaching in the Black Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley. Sun Ra's UCB lectures are on youtube in four parts, audio only. Sun Ra arranged the musical version of Marvin's first and best known one-act plsy Flowers for the Trashman,(see anthology Black Fire and/or SOS: Black Arts Movement Reader, musical version entitled Take Care of Business (see TDR The Drama Review, 1968).

Sun Ra and Marvin produced a five hour concert (without intermission) at San Francisco's Harding Theatre on Divisadero Street, including a cast of 50: BET actors, Sun Ra Arkestra, choreographer Raymond Sawyer's dancers and choreographer Ellendar Barnes's dancers. See San Francisco Sun Reporter Newspaper review, 1972.

On May 21-22, 2015, Marvin X participated in the Sun Ra Conference, University of Chicago. He was on the Symposium (see youtube, Sun Ra Conference Symposium). He also participated in the concert with surviving members of the Arkestra and Chicago musicians. The conference was produced by Chicago musician, David Boykin. See Sun Ra's film Space is the Place (filmed in Oakland, CA).

Left to right: Marshal Allen (band leader, 91 years old, says he's 19 and plays like it), Danny Thompson of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Marvin X. Back row, author Greg Tate and Professor Ytasha Womack, University of Chicago Sun Ra Conference, May 21-22, 2015.