By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
Davy Knowles
The Isle of Man is a small island in the Irish Sea that is an independent country. It is a self-governing kingdom – a Crown dependency that belongs to neither the U.K. nor the European Union.
The island nation covers 222 square miles and has a population of 84,523. It is also known as Manx nation.
For such a small place, it has produced three interesting figures from the rock music world.
First, there are the Bee Gees. If you don’t know the Bee Gees, go watch “Saturday Night Fever” and then come back.
The Isle of Man is the birthplace of the Gibb Brothers – better known as the Bee Gees.
Then, there is Happy Jack – the title character of a hit single by The Who in 1966 (“Happy Jack wasn’t tall, but he was a man, He lived in the sand at the Isle of Man.”)
Most recently, there is Davy Knowles – highly acclaimed blues guitarist/singer who has fared well both as a solo artist and as a group leader.
Knowles will visit the area for a pair of shows this week –February 24 at World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, www.worldcafelive.com) and February 25 at Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com).
“These shows are with my band,” said Knowles, during a phone interview last week from his home in Chicago.
“I did a solo acoustic tour last year. It was fun. I had just done an acoustic album. It was a good challenge.
“Now, I’m touring in support of my new album. It’s a band album so I’ll be touring as a trio with Todd Bower on bass and Mike Hansen on drums.”
Knowles’ new album is “The Invisible Man.” His fifth album under his own name, the LP was released in November 2024.
His previous albums were “The Outsider” (2014) and “Three Miles from Avalon” (2016) and then, after a five-year gap, “What Happens Next” (2021) and “If I Should Wander” (2023).
“A five-year gap – that was a big gap,” said Knowles. “I felt like I didn’t have the right material.
“There was also a lot of life stuff. I lost my father. And I became a dad to three little girls who are two, four and seven.”
Now, after a break for the making of an acoustic album and an accompanying tour, Knowles has returned to the world of electric rock and blues.
“We cut the new album in Chicago,” said Knowles. “We recorded it at Stephen Shirk’s studio (SHIRK studios). It’s old school analog – 70s way.
“We did it mostly live with everyone in the same room. So much today is so polished, and we didn’t want that. We wanted to go straight ahead. The whole thing was done in 10 days.
“A lot of it was done in two or three takes. We’d record three or four rhythm tracks – bass, drum, guitar – and then do some overdubs. We’d wait until a bit later to add any embellishments.
“It’s just a trio. I have the same guys with me on the road that were there in the studio. Todd, Mike and I have been playing together a long time – more than five years. Instrumentally, everyone is going in similar direction.”
Knowles’ love of music goes back to his pre-teen days.
When he was still just a child, Knowles was exposed to blues music through his family’s music collection.
Hearing Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing” was crucial to his continually blossoming love affair with the guitar
“I got my first guitar when I was 11 and I’ve been playing live shows since I was 13,” said Knowles.
Over the years, he has become a die-hard blues fan who has fed himself a diet of music by blues artists such as Albert King, Otis Rush and Muddy Waters – as well as British blues practitioners like Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher and Jeff Beck.
Now, Knowles is a major player in the next generation of blues guitarists.
Video link for Davy Knowles – https://youtu.be/zGXnHBf1_7s.
The show at World Café Live on June 24 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets start at $25.
The show at Elkton Music Hall on June 25 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $24.
Consider this – Knowles has been making music for 22 years. That definitely puts him in the “veteran” category.
Now consider this.
Marshall Allen
When Knowles started making music with Back Door Slam in 2003, Marshall Allen was already in his 63rd year as a professional musician.
I’ll do the math for you.
Allen, who was born in spring 1924, just turned 101 on May 24 – and he’s still playing several shows a month at venues around Philadelphia with his band.
Allen and guitarist DM HOTEP are the core members of Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons – a band that will headline an Ars Nova series show on June 23 at Solar Myth (1131 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, www.arsnovaworkshop.org).
Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe and piccolo. He is best known for his work with Sun Ra, having recorded and performed mostly in this context since the late 1950s.
Since the 1950s, Allen has been a vital member of the Sun Ra Arkestra and its dauntless leader for the last 30 years.
Founded in 2022, Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons ensemble features Arkestra guitarist DM HOTEP alongside an all-star cast of rotating musicians including Immanuel Wilkins, Yo La Tengo’s James McNew, James Brandon Lewis, The War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall, Wolf Eyes, and more.
DM HOTEP, whose birth name is David Middleton, has rehearsed, toured, and recorded as a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, under the direction of Allen since 2000.
Internationally, he has performed alongside many seminal Arkestra members such as John Ore, Juni Booth, Charles Davis, Vincent Chancey, Julian Priester, and Billy Bang; and other internationally notable musicians that include Wayne Krantz (MC5), poet John Sinclair and Bernie Worrell.
In 2018/19, DM HOTEP served as music director and consultant for Philadelphia Jazz Project’s Satellites Are Spinning concert series and is currently a participating member of Philadelphia’s Arcana New Music Ensemble (beginning with resurgent performances of the works of Black avant-garde composer Julius Eastman).
Right before the global pandemic, he began developed the guitar/vocal electro/jazz duo Jupiter Blue with wife (and Arkestra vocalist) Tara Middleton, which recorded and toured briefly before the pandemic and produced mixed media content during it. In addition, he teaches a course in improvisation strategies at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Locally, DM HOTEP performs most frequently with saxophonist Elliott Levin, and as coordinator/performer with Allen’s Ghost Horizon concert series for Ars Nova.
In addition to lively shows, Allen and DM HOTEP have gifted fans with a new album “Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia,” which was issued by Ars Nova Workshop and Otherly Love.
Recorded at Solar Myth in Philadelphia, the album includes tracks culled from a series of varying ad hoc lineups featuring Arkestra members along with William Parker, James Brandon Lewis, Eric Revis, Immanuel Wilkins and Chad Taylor — not to mention James
McNew from longtime Sun Ra boosters Yo La Tengo, as well as experimental noise duo Wolf Eyes and more.
The album was released May 23 on Otherly Love Records.
“I’ve been playing with Marshall a long time,” said DM HOTEP, during a phone interview last week from his home in Philadelphia. “We’ve had Ghost Horizons together for about three years.
“The new album songs from our live shows at Solar Myth last November. We’ve played there many times.
“The album has 16 tracks recorded at our live shows there. We had 12-15 shows for material to choose. There is so much great stuff that was recorded.”
“Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia” was released digitally – and on vinyl as a double live LP.
“We had to take into consideration the album format – what pieces would fit on a 20-minute side,” said DM HOTEP, who has worked with
DJ Spooky, avant-garde multi-instrumentalists William Parker and Kali Fasteau, Ron Miles, Tuvan throat-singing ensemble Alash and legendary Tuvan musician Kongar-ol Ondar (star of the Oscar award-winning documentary Genghis Blues).
“The album was a collaboration between Beau Gordon, who recorded and mixed it, and Stephen Buono and Yuri Seung, who were the producers. Everything was well-recorded at Solar Myth.”
DM HOTEP and Allen have a strong connection with Solar Myth.
“Marshall and I were staying in Philadelphia while the Sun Ra Arkestra was touring in Europe,” said DM HOTEP, who has played with Irreversible Entanglements, Shabaka Hutchings, afro-futurist multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome and Solange Knowles
“The doctors told Marshall that he couldn’t fly anymore – that it would be too dangerous to his health. It really depressed him because he had been touring since the 1980s.
“He said to me – I can’t tour anymore so you and the band have to carry on without me. I didn’t want that because Marshall still has a vital creative capacity.
“I contacted Mark Christman (Founder and Artistic Director, Ars Nova Workshop). I told him about Marshall’s situation and that I wondered if he had any Ars Nova shows that Marshall could be featured in. He said – why don’t we just put on a show featuring Marshall Allen?
“I didn’t know who the musicians would be – but I came up with some. The concert was a huge success. It sold out.
“Then, Mark said he wanted to do it on a monthly basis. It was great because Marshall got a chance to perform – and to make some money.
I came up with the name Ghost Horizon. To keep it interesting, we don’t use the same musicians every month.
“At this point, there is no ‘regular band’ for the shows. It’s a different happening every month.”
This month’s Ghost Horizons features a rare convergence of genre-defying improvisers — including Allen — alto saxophone, EVI, keyboard, and DM HOTEP — electric guitar.
Legendary guitarist and producer Arto Lindsay (DNA, Lounge Lizards, John Zorn) brings his singular history of Tropicalia, noise, and Avant-punk. The ensemble also features Melvin Gibbs (Ronald Shannon Jackson, Rollins Band, Sonny Sharrock; and Mikel Patrick Avery, best known for his work in Natural Information Society.
Video link for Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons — https://youtu.be/xWL9Bh0YlnU.
The show at Solar Myth on June 23 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $40 at the door.
