ideologyhunter
Contributor
I, Eye, Aye - Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Rhino/Atlantic) - recorded live at Montreux Jazz, summer 1972
When Kirk took the stage, he was one of the most arresting sights in jazz. He'd have six or eight horns strung around his neck, looking like an itinerant band instrument salesman. On this cd, his credit line runs: 'Rahsaan Roland Kirk: tenor sax, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, nose flute, siren, and other stuff'. He had a hot band on this date, including Ron Burton on piano.
If this makes Kirk sound like a novelty act, no, he was the real thing. He could play mainstream jazz but could also play very free, and his act included music from all styles of jazz. Here are my notes on the three tracks that I enjoyed most.
Balm in Gilead - After dedicating this tune to Paul Robeson, Kirk opens with a boxy flute intro. After a minute or so he switches to sax and begins to blaze. He melds sinuous siren calls with the gospel chord structure -- it's stunning. As his sax lines stretch and turn, see if you don't picture a giant boa constrictor slithering through a rain forest.
Volunteered Slavery - This could be a jazz salute to Stax Records. The rhythm section thrashes away while Kirk plays pulsing soul on his horns, punctuating things with a referee whistle at the end. Overkill? Maybe, but it's fun, and I only wish I could have seen this performance live in the open air.
Pedal Up - This was one of Kirk's ravers at the time. Again it's beat-heavy, with a catchy main theme and bits of show tunes thrown in as Kirk thinks of them. At the end, he screams over and over; sometimes screaming into one of the horns, then directly into the mic (I think.)
P.S. 1: All of Kirk's live recordings are delightful. The double-length Bright Moments from '73 is a lot of fun, maybe the most fun of any of Kirk's cd's, with tracks like Clickety Clack and his take on Fats Waller's Jitterbug Waltz. Dog Years in the Fourth Ring has a couple hours of Kirk live in the 60s and 70s. Great stuff.
P.S. 2: I think I'm correct that Kirk wasn't even mentioned in the Ken Burns Jazz series on PBS. What a crock!! I believe Gene Ammons, Booker Ervin, Sonny Stitt, and Johnny Griffin were also ignored, and all were mighty players. That's like doing a series on American lit and leaving out Hawthorne, Dreiser, Dos Passos,Welty, and Cheever. (Had to get that off my chest.)
When Kirk took the stage, he was one of the most arresting sights in jazz. He'd have six or eight horns strung around his neck, looking like an itinerant band instrument salesman. On this cd, his credit line runs: 'Rahsaan Roland Kirk: tenor sax, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, nose flute, siren, and other stuff'. He had a hot band on this date, including Ron Burton on piano.
If this makes Kirk sound like a novelty act, no, he was the real thing. He could play mainstream jazz but could also play very free, and his act included music from all styles of jazz. Here are my notes on the three tracks that I enjoyed most.
Balm in Gilead - After dedicating this tune to Paul Robeson, Kirk opens with a boxy flute intro. After a minute or so he switches to sax and begins to blaze. He melds sinuous siren calls with the gospel chord structure -- it's stunning. As his sax lines stretch and turn, see if you don't picture a giant boa constrictor slithering through a rain forest.
Volunteered Slavery - This could be a jazz salute to Stax Records. The rhythm section thrashes away while Kirk plays pulsing soul on his horns, punctuating things with a referee whistle at the end. Overkill? Maybe, but it's fun, and I only wish I could have seen this performance live in the open air.
Pedal Up - This was one of Kirk's ravers at the time. Again it's beat-heavy, with a catchy main theme and bits of show tunes thrown in as Kirk thinks of them. At the end, he screams over and over; sometimes screaming into one of the horns, then directly into the mic (I think.)
P.S. 1: All of Kirk's live recordings are delightful. The double-length Bright Moments from '73 is a lot of fun, maybe the most fun of any of Kirk's cd's, with tracks like Clickety Clack and his take on Fats Waller's Jitterbug Waltz. Dog Years in the Fourth Ring has a couple hours of Kirk live in the 60s and 70s. Great stuff.
P.S. 2: I think I'm correct that Kirk wasn't even mentioned in the Ken Burns Jazz series on PBS. What a crock!! I believe Gene Ammons, Booker Ervin, Sonny Stitt, and Johnny Griffin were also ignored, and all were mighty players. That's like doing a series on American lit and leaving out Hawthorne, Dreiser, Dos Passos,Welty, and Cheever. (Had to get that off my chest.)
