dave9199 Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 So I'm getting into Roland Kirk. I was wonderin' if anyone who might have a few of his albums or followed him through the years, could list their favorites & least favorites & why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I'll just list a couple of favorites. Bright Moments - I nominate this as the quintessential live Kirk album, though the true quintessence must include the visual, so the video The One Man Twins is essential. It unfortunately hasn't made it to DVD. Rip, Rig & Panic - I think many will agree this is his best "pure jazz" album. Blacknuss & Volunteered Slavery, both for the amazing alchemy he did with the soul tunes of the day. I have the 32 Jazz compilation, "Left Hook, Right Cross" that includes both. That's my short list. After that, everything else! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 "Please Now Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith" is another one that I really enjoy, but doesn't seem to get discussed much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 all of them!!! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Rip, Rig & Panic Domino We Free Kings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I've yet to hear one I didn't like. I have RIP RIG & PANIC coupled with NOW PLEASE DON'T YOU CRY BEAUTIFUL EDITH, and would agree this is great stuff. I like all the other albums I have by him, but that twofer gets the most playtime: DOMINO PREPARE THYSELF TO DEAL WITH A MIRACLE RAHSAAN RAHSAAN THE CASE OF THE THREE-SIDED DREAM IN AUDIO COLOR THE MAN WHO CRIED FIRE ...AUDIO COLOR is a little more funk oriented, and THE MAN WHO CRIED FIRE is a Hyena release that I like the least of my Kirks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birksworks Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I'd agree with Pete C. on Rip, Rig and Panic (available with the underrated Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith). I'd put Domino and We Free Kings in there too. But here are 3 I rarely see mentioned: Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Al Hibbler: A Meeting of the Times (available as a Collectible album combined with -- of all things -- Ornette! i.e. the Atlantic Ornette! album, not Coleman meets Kirk.) Roy Haynes: Out of the Afternoon on Impulse (1961?) with Kirk, Tommy Flanagan and Henry Grimes Jaki Byard Experience: on Prestige with Kirk, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson Rahsaan was an irrepressible cat -- don't be fooled into labeling him a sideman on these disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 all of them!!! B) Start with the Rah box (Mercury, 10CDs), then get "The Inflated Tear", then start on all the Atlantics, make sure you get hold of a copy of the 3CD set (32jazz) with two live discs and Kirk's stunning solo album, and after that you'll want to have the rest... the Warner albums do have some very fine playing, too! And one I'm very fond of is "Introducing", rec. 1960, with Ira Sullivan - a beautiful album, indeed! (And he did record his first album four years before, for Bethlehem, another nice one). Then the Prestige album with Jack McDuff is really cool, too! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972 I like this one a lot, plenty of energy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972 I like this one a lot, plenty of energy That's another good one! What live Kirk is around? I have but this one and the 32jazz set, I think! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972 I like this one a lot, plenty of energy The video I mentioned above is the same performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzmessenger Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I love his live album "Volunteered Slavery". Also, all flute album "I Talk with Spirits" is good, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 What live Kirk is around? I have but this one and the 32jazz set, I think! http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...terious+phantom There's also a DVD that contains two minutes of Kirk's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I've been trying to name a favorite. . . and just can't. I am about to put forth a title, and then remember another and another. . . . The one that most recently bowled me over on relistening was "Prepare Yourself for a Miracle" but. . . that's only because it was the most recent listen! You just can't go wrong with this consistent jazz monster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphie_boy Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I'll just list a couple of favorites. Bright Moments - I nominate this as the quintessential live Kirk album, though the true quintessence must include the visual, so the video The One Man Twins is essential. It unfortunately hasn't made it to DVD. Rip, Rig & Panic - I think many will agree this is his best "pure jazz" album. Blacknuss & Volunteered Slavery, both for the amazing alchemy he did with the soul tunes of the day. I have the 32 Jazz compilation, "Left Hook, Right Cross" that includes both. That's my short list. After that, everything else! I agree completely with Pete's list. A few others to add are: Inflatable Tear Left and Right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I've been trying to name a favorite. . . and just can't. I am about to put forth a title, and then remember another and another. . . . The one that most recently bowled me over on relistening was "Prepare Yourself for a Miracle" but. . . that's only because it was the most recent listen! You just can't go wrong with this consistent jazz monster! Same here! Even in his Warner years there was some real good stuff! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Favourite Kirk is "Kirk's Work" with Jack McDuff followed by "We Free Kings" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Mingus Oh Yeah is another good one! ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 "I Talk With The Spirits" is a superb album. I've played that many times since I first got the Limelite LP of it, and it still sounds fresh. It has some prime Horace Parlan, and makes a nice follow-up to Horace's BN albums; his solo on "Trees" is a gem. The idea on this album is that Kirk plays flute "only", but that's no limitation at all for him! That's "Rowland Kirk", as the guy with the funny accent at Ronnie Scott's called him when I saw him there in 1972. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 'Bout the only stuff I'm even a little cold on is the post-"500 Lb. Man" WB material, (not "500 Lb" itself, though, which remains one of my favorite Kirk sides for the superb integration of production and performance, a more fully - and perfectly - realized version of the concepts of "aural theatre" put forth on "Audio Dream", I think) and even then, there's never really a bad album or a bad performance, just some (what are for me, anyway) "questionable" production decisions. And having said that, many of his earlier Atlantic albums are uneven like a mofo, but in the way that a roller coaster ride is uneven. I, for one LOVE roller coaster rides! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphie_boy Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Natural Black Inventions/Root Strata is another session which I like a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nina low Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 I really have a soft place in my heart for his three warner bros. albums, most recently compiled into 2cds as "A Standing Eight" on 32 Jazz. A great eclectic collection of music with great sidemen/women (Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Trudy Pitts, Charlie Persip, Steve Turre, Percy Heath,Tiny Grimes, Sammy Price, etc). Kirk mainly plays tenor sax with some flute and harmonica. Very little multiple horn playing since a fair amount of this music is post stroke. I doubt many people think these are his best releases but you certainly have to admire his determination to the end even though he didn't have much left to give. I equate his last album to Ellington's tribute to Billy Stayhorn in that you feel the joy and celebration in the music as well as the sadness and melancholy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 I'll give a thumbs up for "The Inflated Tear" because it was the first Kirk album I owned but I liked "Bright Moments" and I'm in the process of trying to lay my hands on every Dorn reissue that I can. Man I love Rashaan -he was a beautiful cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEK Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 I own several of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's recordings. The ones I return to the most are "We Free Kings", "Domino", "Rip, Rig and Panic", "Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith", "The Inflated Tear", and recordings he did with Mingus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 i do not own ANY roland kirk cds........ ss1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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