S&D: Rashaan Roland Kirk

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I've been listening to 'im a lot lately, and I wanted to take the pulse.

J, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

New 'Volunteered Slavery' answers here!

J, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Because of his talent for playing three horns at once, I think a visual elements really adds to the enjoyment of his music. So I say search the "One Man Twins: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival" video. He's draped in robes, scarves and horns, incense burning like crazy on stage. Any to anyone who's seen this video -- is he snorting cocaine about halfway through?!? He pulls out a spoon w/ a powder on it and takes a toot, and then offers some to people in the audience (he's blind so he just kind of holds the spoon in front of himself and feels around -- very weird.)

Mark, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, that sounds WILD, Mark - in the sleevenotes for 'The Inflated Tear', RRK goes on abt being cremated when he dies so that ppl can smoke him! What a geezer!

'Inflated Tear' is prob. the most 'together' rec that Kirk ever made - and there's a gd cheapo twofer CD in the UK that combines 'Rip, Rig and Panic' w/ 'Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith' - great vfm. Plus his playing on 'Oh Yeah' by Mingus is pretty special.

Andrew L, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

other way around for me Mark. fixating on the multiple horns or circular breathing tends to keep me in one place as a listener: i rarely move beyond "wow he's playing three horns at once that's impressive" if i'm thinking about it. and it's a bind, because on the one hand in retrospect the initial (and continued) charges of gimmickry seem unfair and shortsighted, but on the other hand the man has two horns and a nose flute sticking out of his face. it's worth knowing those things about his playing obviously, but the records i like most are the ones that let me forget that entirely (not many come to think of it - that mingus record is one of them).

search Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle for the title alone. also for the way the cover art depicts exactly the music it contains: a dark matte painting backdrop of looming clouds with incongruous birds and half-angels. Kirk is a disembodied hovering voice from another place and somehow the LEAST strange thing in the picture.

The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

sp: "Rahsaan"

Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

OOOH!

Typo in question!

Bad J!

J, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard much - what I've heard may been from a "funk" period?

Tracer Hand, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Of his later stuff (much of which is funky) I've heard the Case of the 3-Sided Dream in Audio Color, which, if not a good Kirk album, is a pretty fun album nonetheless. Post-stroke Kirk cut down to the talent of a normal man is still pretty great, and the rawkus version of The Entertainer is pretty great. The cut-up tape voice collage weirdness inbetween songs was pretty amusing if I remember (the first skits on an album?).

Jordan, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

ooh good call possibly re skits, what date is three-sided dream? (haha it only HAS three sides)

mark s, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is coke he's feeding to the young girls, Mark (R). Great performances in that video, which is my only exposure to Kirk.

sundar subramanian, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was an extraordinary musician.

His music has great appeal to people interested in Jazz, and people not interested in jazz.

For those Jazz fans out there, you might find that 'We Free Kings' on Emarcy, is the best album for you.

'Inflated Tear', is good, as well as 'Rip Rig and Panic', a classic.

'Blacknuss' is a must for lovers of pop soul, and there are some fantastic live records, the best comes from the soundtrack to the movie that Mark was talking about, it's called 'I, Eye, Aye'.

Geoffrey Balasoglou, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

There are a couple of best ofs: the 2cd "Does Your House Have Lions" (Atlantic) and a single cd on the Verve Masters series. Obvious caveats applying to complations apply but they are both pretty good collections.

ArfArf, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

There is also good and inexpensive Roland Kirk compilation that came out a few years back under the moniker of "Masters of Acid Jazz" that is also a fine listen. I found it new on CD a few years back for $7 bucks.

Earlnash, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...
I'm not really a fan (though I've liked bits and pieces), but Brotherland in the Fatherland is a great title, or is it actually awful? Anyway, I like it.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21421
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21410

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

S:
Blacknuss
Volunteered Slavery
Bright Moments
the One-Man Twins: Live at Montreauz concert video (as discussed)
His guest spot on Les McCann's "Live at Montreaux" LP (from the same year)

D:
none of it really, tho I guess some of the trad-bop stuff is kinda pedestrian (Domino, Kirk's Work, etc.)

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

(also the bio "Bright Moments" is pretty good, lots of great stories)

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

Look for him on youtube. With Buddy Guy even!
Anyhoo, I only own a couple of Roland albums, the great Inflated Tear and the alright Here Comes the Whistle Man. The latter's title track is all sorts of great fun. I suspect I'd like both albums more if I had better CD issues (there's a series of digipak-releases on Atlantic that always seems to sound tinny and generally bad, most of my early Mingus is on there too. Time to upgrade with Rhino reissues, methinks)

I'm pretty sure Rahsaan is one of the best people you could play for people who are into rock and pop etc, but not fond of the jazz thing. It never sounds like "jazz" in that "Giant Steps" sort of way, but just like some musicians having tons of fun blowing their lungs out. Come to think of it, he often seems to be mentioned by those guys who generally rarely like much other jazz than Eric Dolphy.

Only dud part as I see it is that party-whistle thing he loves so much. He ends a solo and up goes that thing and "Whoiiiiii!"

Search: Mingus' "Oh Yeah." It's a riot.

Øystein (Øystein), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

i can't believe i didn't post my favourite ever kirk story last time: a journalist -- poss.brian case? -- discovered him throwing ice cubes out of his hotel window, and playing the sound they made when they hit the ground

mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

oh shit I totally forgot to also search his greatest thing ever, the short film "Sound?" with John Cage!!!

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 April 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

http://www.thirteen.org/soul/2009/02/06/october-4-1972/

Wrinkles, I'll See You On the Other Side (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 May 2009 18:20 (sixteen years ago)

i knew he could play three horns in concert but did not know he could do his eyebrows at the same time. this looks great. some real nice volunteered slavery era bits on youtube if anyone's ever bored.

corps of discovery (schlump), Friday, 22 May 2009 18:25 (sixteen years ago)

that poor, poor chair

seriously great, though. the three horns at once thing was never a gimmick, but getting to see it is a little beyond

Milton Parker, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:06 (sixteen years ago)

is that Bobby Womack in the audience at 24:29 ???

Wrinkles, I'll See You On the Other Side (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:09 (sixteen years ago)

am0n, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:18 (sixteen years ago)

wish i could find the live video of him in europe somewhere and at one point he offers coke to the audience out of one of his pouches

am0n, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:21 (sixteen years ago)

So I say search the "One Man Twins: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival" video. He's draped in robes, scarves and horns, incense burning like crazy on stage. Any to anyone who's seen this video -- is he snorting cocaine about halfway through?!? He pulls out a spoon w/ a powder on it and takes a toot, and then offers some to people in the audience (he's blind so he just kind of holds the spoon in front of himself and feels around -- very weird.)

― Mark, Sunday, August 11, 2002 8:00 PM

^ yeah this

am0n, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:24 (sixteen years ago)

am0n, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:28 (sixteen years ago)

am0n, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:36 (sixteen years ago)

this article tipped me off to some records i didn't know about and reignited a recent rrk fixation for me.

inflated tear and rip rig and panic were the first two i really got into on a friend's recommendation. natural black inventions: root strata was a find that totally blew me away. solo kirk just wailing away and getting down. the first cut always knocks me on my ass.

http://www.blastitude.com/27/#rahsaan

really like the author's take on kirk's catalog. it seems to stem from intimate listens and a real love of kirk's music.

sknybrg, Saturday, 23 May 2009 19:13 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

search

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzXZwN7axng

dave barry (absolutely clean glasses), Friday, 15 July 2011 16:01 (thirteen years ago)

six years pass...

I think this has been posted before, probably by me, but, alongside the playing three horns at once and lung busting circular breathing here we get to see Roland bang a gong, blow a conch and destroy a chair. This is a somewhat exciting performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btCyMMViUIQ

Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Friday, 5 January 2018 11:36 (seven years ago)

eleven months pass...

https://austintayeshus.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-are-spectral-projections.html

Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 14 December 2018 20:55 (six years ago)

four years pass...

Listening to Roy Haynes 'Out of the Afternoon' for the first time in awhile, incredible album.

Random Restaurateur (Jordan), Thursday, 25 May 2023 20:18 (two years ago)

nine months pass...

Let's see, Roy Haynes, Archie Shepp, Charles Mingus, not a band really. On the Ed Sullivan Show too! He could have been bigger than the Beatles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRO1W5twBes

The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Monday, 4 March 2024 14:57 (one year ago)

... not a bad band, that is.

The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Monday, 4 March 2024 14:57 (one year ago)

Roy Haynes, 98 and still alive! He was repeatedly mentioned in a book I was reading and everyone else referenced playing with him are all long gone.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 4 March 2024 15:07 (one year ago)

Pretty sure he's also the last living person to have played with Charlie Parker.

Ward Fowler, Monday, 4 March 2024 15:09 (one year ago)

yeah he must be the last Bird player standing, he is a year younger than Max Roach would have been.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 4 March 2024 15:15 (one year ago)

made my day, thank you so much

fpsa, Monday, 4 March 2024 19:54 (one year ago)

wow!

bendy, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 20:02 (one year ago)

Such a cool presentation of breaking it down for a mass audience, but also throwing down

Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 March 2024 20:05 (one year ago)

wow that's wild for Ed Sullivan! great great stuff

corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 08:44 (one year ago)


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