ROLAND KIRK

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Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Background Information
Birth name: Ronald Theodore Kirk
Born: August 7, 1935(1935-08-07) Columbus, Ohio, United States
Died. December 5, 1977(1977-12-05) (aged 42)
Genres: Jazz, Hard-bop, Soul jazz, Post-bop, Avant-garde jazz, Mainstream jazz
Occupations: Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader
Instruments: Tenor saxophone, clarinet, stritch, manzello, flute
Years active. 1955–1977
Labels King, Chess, Prestige, Mercury, Limelight, Verve, Atlantic, Warner Bros
Website http://www.alfanet.hu/kirk/index2.html

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1935[2] – December 5, 1977) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.

Biography
Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He became blind at an early age as a result of poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.

Preferring to lead his own bands, Kirk rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones and drummer Roy Haynes and had notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the Austin Powers films (Jones 1964; McLeod et al. 1997).

His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw on many elements of the music's past, from ragtime to swing and free jazz. Kirk also absorbed classical influences, and his artistry reflected elements of pop music by composers such as Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, as well as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and other jazz musicians. The live album Bright Moments (1973) is an example of one of his shows. His main instrument was the tenor saxophone, supplemented by other saxes, and contrasted with the lighter sound of the flute. At times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonising with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using circular breathing, or play the flute through his nose. A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade, but even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues.

Kirk was politically outspoken. During his concerts, between songs he often talked about topical issues, including black history and the civil rights movement. His monologues were often laced with satire and absurdist humor.

In 1975, Kirk suffered a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body. However, he continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm. At a live performance at Ronnie Scott's club in London he even managed to play two instruments, and carried on to tour internationally and even appear on television.

He died from a second stroke in 1977 after performing in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.

Instruments and Technique
Kirk played and collected a number of musical instruments, mainly various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His main instruments were tenor saxophone and two obscure saxophones: the stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's characteristic upturned bell) and a manzello (a modified saxello soprano sax, with a larger, upturned bell). Kirk modified these instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique.

He typically appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck, as well as a variety of other instruments, including flutes and whistles, and often kept a gong within reach. Kirk also played clarinet, harmonica, English horn, and recorders, and was a competent trumpeter. He often had unique approaches, using a saxophone mouthpiece on a trumpet or playing nose flute. He additionally used many non-musical devices, such as alarm clocks, sirens, or a section of common garden hose (dubbed "the black mystery pipes"). His studio recordings also used tape-manipulated musique concrète, and primitive electronic sounds (before such things became commonplace).

Kirk was also an influential flautist, employing several techniques that he developed himself. One technique was to sing or hum into the flute at the same time as playing. Another was to play the standard transverse flute at the same time as a nose flute.

Some observers thought that Kirk's bizarre onstage appearance and simultaneous multi-instrumentalism were just gimmicks, especially when coming from a blind man, but these opinions usually vanished when Kirk began to play. He used the multiple horns to play true chords, essentially functioning as a one-man saxophone section. Kirk insisted that he was only trying to emulate the sounds he heard in his head.

Kirk was a major exponent of circular breathing. Using this technique, Kirk was not only able to sustain a single note for an extended period; he could also play sixteenth-note runs of almost unlimited length, and at high speeds. His circular breathing ability enabled him to record "Concerto For Saxophone" on the Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle LP in one continuous take of about 20 minutes' playing with no discernible "break" for inhaling. His long-time producer at Atlantic Jazz, Joel Dorn, believed he should have received credit in The Guinness Book of World Records for such feats (he was capable of playing continuously "without taking a breath" for far longer than exhibited on that LP), but this never happened.

The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color was a unique album in jazz and popular music recorded annals. It was a two-LP set, with Side 4 apparently "blank," the label not indicating any content. However, once word of "the secret message" got around among Rahsaan's fans, one would find that about 12 minutes into Side 4 appeared the first of two telephone answering machine messages recorded by Kirk, the second following soon thereafter (but separated by more blank grooves). The surprise impact of these segments appearing on "blank" Side 4 was lost on the CD reissue of this album. These spoken-word segments reflected the tenor of the times, so to speak, with the rather pessimistic theme that humanity had "blown" its chance to live in a world of peace and harmony. But this was entirely in keeping with the fact that, despite his loss at an early age of his sight, Rahsaan was very much on top of societal developments, racial and economic injustice and disparity. Indeed, he had participated many years previously in protests against the failure of TV show hosts like Merv Griffin to hire any non-white musicians.

He gleaned information on what was happening in the world via audio media like radio and the sounds coming from TV sets. His later recordings often incorporated his spoken commentaries on current events, including Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal. The 3-Sided Dream album was a 'concept album', somewhat akin to the Beatles' 'psychedelic' phase in the incorporation of "found" or environmental sounds and tape loops, tapes being played backwards, etc. Snippets of Billie Holiday singing are also heard briefly. The album even confronts the rise of influence of computers in society, as Rahsaan threatens to pull the plug on the machine trying to tell him what to do.

Legacy and Influence
Virtuoso guitarist Jimi Hendrix "idolized" Kirk, and even hoped to one day collaborate with him.[citation needed]
Trombonist Steve Turre was strongly influenced by Kirk's music (and by his use of a conch shell as a second instrument). Kirk's technique of humming while playing the flute was adopted later by many other players, including Jeremy Steig, Thijs van Leer, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, (who covered the Kirk tune "Serenade to a Cuckoo" on Jethro Tull's first album This Was in 1968).
David Jackson, of Van der Graaf Generator, was also highly influenced by the style and technique of Kirk, and he plays multiple saxophones simultaneously since at least 1969
Eric Burdon and War's debut 1970 release Eric Burdon Declares War has a track on it entitled "Roll On Kirk", which is a tribute to Kirk.
British reed player Dick Heckstall-Smith also emulated Kirk in playing multiple saxophones simultaneously.
Courtney Pine, a saxophonist from the UK, also uses circular breathing and plays two saxophones at once in live performance. Jeff Coffin, solo artist and member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (from 1988 on), plays multiple saxophones simultaneously.
Thurston Moore wore a Rahsaan Roland Kirk t-shirt for a promo shoot for Sonic Youth's album Goo (1990).
Jonny Greenwood, the guitarist and multi-instrumentalist of Radiohead, acknowledged his respect and love for Kirk's music on the band's blog.[citation needed]
Drummer Ramon Lopez paid tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk in his 2002 album Duets 2 Rahsaan Roland Kirk, inviting nine differents artists (Joëlle Léandre, Thierry Madiot, Harry Beckett, Majid Bekkas, Beñat Achiary...) for nine duets on nine compositions of Kirk's.
Guitarist Michael Angelo Batio mentioned in an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive that Kirk's playing of two saxophones at once inspired him to create his "double guitar".
T.J. Kirk was a cover act that took its name from the three artists making up its catalog: Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Formed by eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter as a side group to his own self-titled and San Francisco-based band, other members include Scott Amendola, Will Bernard and John Schott.
Paul Weller cited the Kirk album I Talk with the Spirits (1964) as one of his 'Most Influential Albums' in an interview with The Times.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk is the namesake of jazz artists Roland and Rahsaan Barber, brothers who play trombone and saxophone respectively.

Discography

As Leader
King Records
1956 - Triple Threat
Argo/Cadet/Chess Records
1960 - Introducing Roland Kirk
Prestige Records
1961 - Kirk's Work - with Jack McDuff on organ
Mercury Records
1961 - We Free Kings - with Richard Wyands on piano
1962 - Domino
1963 - Reeds & Deeds
1964 - The Roland Kirk Quartet Meets the Benny Golson Orchestra
1964 - Kirk in Copenhagen
1964 - Gifts & Messages
Limelight Records
1964 - I Talk with the Spirits - album of Kirk playing the flute
1965 - Slightly Latin
1965 - Rip, Rig and Panic - fast bop with Jaki Byard on piano, Richard Davis on bass, and drummer Elvin Jones
Verve Records
1967 - Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith
Atlantic Records
1965 - Here Comes the Whistleman (Live) - including all Kirk's banter between tracks
1967 - The Inflated Tear
1968 - Left & Right
1968 - Volunteered Slavery - a meltdown of pop tunes, hard bop, African chanting
1970 - Rahsaan Rahsaan
1971 - Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata - mostly Kirk alone, on many instruments
1971 - Blacknuss
1972 - A Meeting of the Times w ex-Duke Ellington singer Al Hibbler
1973 - Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle
1973 - Bright Moments - live at Keystone Korner, San Francisco
1975 - The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color
1976 - Other Folks' Music
Warner Bros. Records
1976 - The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man
1977 - Kirkatron
1977 - Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real
Posthumous releases of new material
I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972 (Rhino)
The Man Who Cried Fire (Night)
Dog Years in the Fourth Ring (32 Jazz)
Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom (Hyena)
Brotherman in the Fatherland - Recorded "Live" in Germany 1972 (Hyena)
Compilations
Rahsaan: The Complete Mercury Recordings Of Roland Kirk
Does Your House Have Lions: The Rahsaan Roland Kirk Anthology
Simmer, Reduce, Garnish & Serve - compilation from his last three albums
Talkin' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz
The Art of Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Third Dimension and Beyond combines Triple Threat and Introducing Roland Kirk
Left Hook, Right Cross combines Volunteered Slavery and Blacknuss
Aces Back to Back combines Left & Right, Rahsaan Rahsaan, Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle, and Other Folks' Music
A Standing Eight combines The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man, Kirkatron and Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real
Only The Best Of Rahsaan Roland Kirk Volume 1 combines Blacknuss, The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color, The Inflated Tear/Natural Black Inventions: Roots Strata, Kirkatron, Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real, and Other Folks' Music (7CD)


As Sideman

With Charles Mingus

Tonight at Noon (1961)
Oh Yeah (1962)
Mingus at Carnegie Hall (1974)
With Roy Haynes

Out of the Afternoon (1962)
With Tubby Hayes

Tubby's Back in Town (1962)
With Quincy Jones

Big Band Bossa Nova (1962)
Explores Music of Henry Mancini (1964)
Walking in Space (1969)
With Tommy Peltier

The Jazz Corps Under the Direction of Tommy Peltier
With Jaki Byard

The Jaki Byard Experience (1968)
With Les McCann

Les McCann Live at Montreux (1972)

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Rahsaan Roland Kirk - horns
McCoy Tyner - piano
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums

The performance is introduced by Quincy Jones.

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Jazz Icons: Rahsaan Roland Kirk presents three astounding concerts by this musical superhero playing his entire instrumental arsenal of saxophone, flute, manzello, stritch, clarinet, siren and whistles—oftentimes
simultaneously!

Kirk Is backed by extraordinary side musicians including legendary bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, drummers Alex Riel and Daniel Humair, and long-time pianist Ron Burton who keep the fire and swing burning throughout Rahsaan's blazing workouts.

This collection also includes two different renditions of "Three For The Festival," arguably Kirk's most spectacular performance piece, showcasing Rahsaan as a thunderous acrobatic player whose multiple horn work was all jazz and no gimmick.

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