the Spatial AKA Orchestra

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = The Spatial AKA Orchestra

| image =

| image_size =

| landscape =

| caption =

| background = group_or_band

| origin =

| genre = {{Flatlist|*Jazz

• ska
• swing
• Dixieland{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/21/jerry-dammers-spatial-aka-orchestra-and-reggae-ensemble-review |title=Jerry Dammers’s Spatial AKA Orchestra (and Reggae Ensemble) review – profound, ecstatic and moving |last=Chick |first=Stevie |date=July 21, 2014 |publisher=The Guardian |access-date=2022-09-16 |quote=Dammers melds Sun Ra's musical legacy with ska, Dixieland jazz and Jamaican pop in a majestic four-hour show}}}}

| years_active =2006–present

| label =

| associated_acts =

| website = {{URL|www.jerrydammers.com}}

| past_members =

• Alcyona Mick
• Anthony Joseph
• Crispin Robinson
• Denys Baptiste
• Finn Peters
• Francine Luce
• Harry Brown
• Jason Yarde
• Jerry Dammers
• Nathaniel Facey
• Ollie Bayley
• Patrick Hatchett
• Patrick Illingworth
• Reuben Fox
• Robin Hopcraft
• Roger Beaujolais
• Shabaka Hutchings
• Terry Edwards

}}

The Spatial AKA Orchestra is a music ensemble led by Jerry Dammers of the Specials, an English 2 tone ska band popular in the late 1970s (which also went by the name the Special AKA). Dammers formed the orchestra in 2006 as a tribute to American jazz musician Sun Ra, though it grew to include other genres such as reggae, funk, and classical music.{{cite web|last1=Lindsay|first1=Bruce|title=Jerry Dammers' Spatial A.K.A Orchestra at the Norfolk And Norwich Festival 2012|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/jerry-dammers-spatial-aka-orchestra-at-the-norfolk-and-norwich-festival-2012-by-bruce-lindsay.php|website=All About Jazz|accessdate=16 October 2016|date=26 May 2012}}

The shows are as much about theater as music. At a festival in Norwich, England, Dammers donned a golden mask behind a row of keyboards on a stage cluttered with Egyptian mannequins, astronauts, and spaceships. The rest of the band emerged disguised as aliens and superheroes. Over 20 band members populated the stage during the night including Denys Baptiste, Larry Bartley, Roger Beaujolais, and Finn Peters. A similar show took place at the Barbican in London. The band played cover versions of Sun Ra's songs before covering the Specials, other work by Dammers, and ska music. Performers included poet Anthony Joseph, former Specials vocalist Francine Luce, Jamaican singer Cornell Campbell, and trombonist Rico Rodriguez.{{cite web|last1=Chick|first1=Stevie|title=Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra (and Reggae Ensemble) review – profound, ecstatic and moving|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/21/jerry-dammers-spatial-aka-orchestra-and-reggae-ensemble-review|website=The Guardian|accessdate=16 October 2016|date=21 July 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Hobart|first1=Mike|title=Jerry Dammers' Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra (and Reggae Ensemble), Barbican, London – review|url=https://www.ft.com/content/df10ca88-10f3-11e4-b116-00144feabdc0|website=Financial Times|accessdate=16 October 2016|date=22 July 2014}}