The combined age of the Arkestra must be getting pretty close to that of the planet itself. Their tectonic plates continue to shift, with new and returning members filling spaces vacated by the old, overlaying new patterns on ancient structures. At the core remains the octogenarian Marshall Allen, who in his last appearance at Oto showed that he is still a white hot improvisational presence. Tonight, he led a twelve-strong Arkestra on a glorious two hour dig through the Sun Ra catalogue, in front of a never-more-packed Café Oto.

And boy, did he dig way back into that catalogue. Allen was reaching back to Ra’s big band roots, paying homage to Fletcher Henderson with “Stomp”, and going back over 50 (FIFTY) years to dust off Arkestra classics like “Velvet” and “Energy”. The well-disciplined band members delivered raucous brass-heavy swing, erupting into solos on Allen’s command, almost daring the avant-gardistas in Oto to clap hands, or even dance.

Given that the Arkestra were touring without a dedicated vocalist (unlike at last year’s Hokaben, there was no Art Jenkins), the set was surprisingly lyric-heavy, with songs such as “We Will Wait For You”, “It is Forbidden” and “Its Springtime Again”, featuring either Arkestra veteran Knoel Scott or ex Kool and the Gang member (!) Michael Ray pontificating merrily on space, space travel, and even a few things which have little connection to space. To demonmstrate, Ray sang a tribute to his home town, the 1920s standard “Way Down Yonder In New Orleans”. They even performed the Disney song “When You Wish Upon A Star”, which I suppose is quite space-related, heart-breakingly tender, until Allen squeezed a squally solo round the melody.

I remember seeing the Arkestra perform a very abstract set at the RFH about 5 years back, and I had a strange feeling we’d get something similar tonight in Oto, the venue at the heart of the UK experimental music scene. But for the most part tonight – well, the first set at least – the Arkestra weren’t given much license to cut loose, subsuming their egos into the collective big band. The Arkestra’s latest young pianist Faris Barron is clearly a hugely impressive musician, as is old hand Juini Booth on double bass, as is returning Arkestra cellist Kash Kallion, but they didn’t get more than two solos each all night (Kallion played one of these on sarangi, the eastern drones a welcome addition to the mix). Even Allen probably took no more than four or five relatively short solos all evening, and as we know he can be incendiary.

The second set was the more “out” of the two, a shift signalled early on by some harsh electronics from Barron, and then by Allen calling for “Dancing Shadows”. After gasps from the Arkestra and much frantic score-shuffling, an amazing tangled, knot of sound was created on stage, the instruments weaving impossible patterns around each other. The end of the set was a joy, most Arkestra members switching to percussion and getting into a filthy, dirge-like groove, while the baritone saxophone and trombone players danced through the crowd. As “Holiday For Strings” segued into chants of “Space Is The Place” and “We Travel The Spaceways”, the Oto crowd was on its feet, clapping. A most alien sight, and one I’ll remember for epochs.