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Roland Kirk


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If by "something" you're referring to those sounds toward the end, then I'm pretty sure they're there, too.

I'm not sure about the connection between 3 Sided Dream... and Mingus Ah Um. I think the Rahsaan album has much more in common with some of his earlier "concept" joints (e.g., "Rahsaan Rahsaan") as a unified thematic and sonic entity--it's only here in "hi-tech" form. For my money, it's probably the most "successful" that these albums (both in terms of "concept" and studio wizardry) got, although with Rahsaan that's sort of a relative term.

As with all of his albums, after all, there are a few tracks that stand out among even that whole (Freaks for the Festival, the "electric" version of "Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies"). Even if I have my preferences, though, the format and sequencing of the album magnify my appreciation manifold--and that was a big part of his genuis, as a doyen of cultural and spiritual unity well before there were armies (the AACM, for example) to fight the fight. All of those albums are special to me.

Edited by ep1str0phy
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If by "something" you're referring to those sounds toward the end, then I'm pretty sure they're there, too.

There's also a brief phone conversation.

I first heard the album on CD, and I actually waited the full fifteen + minutes to hear the conversation. It was worth it, in its own way (Case of... was one of my first "bright moments").

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I have a critical blindspot with Kirk - I love it all. Two favourites, however - Rip, Rig, and Panic (where Jaki Byard and Elvin create some of the happiest mayhem on record, IMHO) and the flute album, 'I Talk with the Spirits'.

I have many favorite albums by Kirk, but these are certainly part of that list. Interesting covers too!

One of my favorite albums that are pre-Rhasan is We Free Kings, especially with that blazing opener Three For the Festival. Then there's Domino. Wow, so many good albums from him. Much like Booker Ervin, nearly everything he did is good in my book. Two of my favorite tenor players in jazz.

Edited by six string
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Slightly Latin is a big favourite of mine.

Other favourite Kirk moments are his solo on "Perdido" on the Mingus Carnegie Hall date and "I Say a Little Prayer" on Dog Years in the Fourth Ring.

What always impressed/amazed me about Kirk is he could take songs like "Ode to Billy Joe" and Bread's "Make it with You" (!) and make them great.

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(....)

What always impressed/amazed me about Kirk is he could take songs like "Ode to Billy Joe" and Bread's "Make it with You" (!) and make them great.

Agree. There's a video with an early '70 -likely- live version of "I Say A Little Prayer" I dowloaded, where Kirk and his group play this pop tune with the kind of intensity they were playing A Love Supreme -another prayer, indeed.

I am enlighted by this matching of Kirk with Booker Ervin. True; great tenors, great players both

Edited by ArmandoPeraza
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Agree. There's a video with an early '70 -likely- live version of "I Say A Little Prayer" I dowloaded, where Kirk and his group play this pop tune with the kind of intensity they were playing A Love Supreme -another prayer, indeed.

Is that the one where Bill Wyman is in the audience?

On the Dog Years in the Fourth Ring version, Kirk quotes quite liberally from "A Love Supreme."

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I have a critical blindspot with Kirk - I love it all. Two favourites, however - Rip, Rig, and Panic (where Jaki Byard and Elvin create some of the happiest mayhem on record, IMHO) and the flute album, 'I Talk with the Spirits'.

I have many favorite albums by Kirk, but these are certainly part of that list. Interesting covers too!

One of my favorite albums that are pre-Rhasan is We Free Kings, especially with that blazing opener Three For the Festival. Then there's Domino. Wow, so many good albums from him. Much like Booker Ervin, nearly everything he did is good in my book. Two of my favorite tenor players in jazz.

Rahsaan's taste in sidemen deserves mention. Charlie Persip kills it on We Free Kings (love how he calls in new choruses on "Three for the Festival"), but the list goes on and on: Elvin Jones, Richard Davis, Jaki Byard, Ron Burton, Leroy Jenkins, Hank Jones, Horace Parlan, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Hopps, Steve Novosel, Roy Haynes, Dick Griffin, J.C. Moses, Hilton Ruiz, Steve Turre...

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I have a critical blindspot with Kirk - I love it all. Two favourites, however - Rip, Rig, and Panic (where Jaki Byard and Elvin create some of the happiest mayhem on record, IMHO) and the flute album, 'I Talk with the Spirits'.

I have many favorite albums by Kirk, but these are certainly part of that list. Interesting covers too!

One of my favorite albums that are pre-Rhasan is We Free Kings, especially with that blazing opener Three For the Festival. Then there's Domino. Wow, so many good albums from him. Much like Booker Ervin, nearly everything he did is good in my book. Two of my favorite tenor players in jazz.

Rahsaan's taste in sidemen deserves mention. Charlie Persip kills it on We Free Kings (love how he calls in new choruses on "Three for the Festival"), but the list goes on and on: Elvin Jones, Richard Davis, Jaki Byard, Ron Burton, Leroy Jenkins, Hank Jones, Horace Parlan, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Hopps, Steve Novosel, Roy Haynes, Dick Griffin, J.C. Moses, Hilton Ruiz, Steve Turre...

...Andrew Hill...

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Agree. There's a video with an early '70 -likely- live version of "I Say A Little Prayer" I dowloaded, where Kirk and his group play this pop tune with the kind of intensity they were playing A Love Supreme -another prayer, indeed.

Is that the one where Bill Wyman is in the audience?

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - I Say A Little Prayer - Live 1969

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  • 3 weeks later...

More interesting footage of Kirk to be found on this Impro-Jazz DVD:

In Europe 1962-1967 - Dvd Zone 0

Rahsaan Roland Kirk with Tete Montoliu

Featuring: Roland Kirk (multiple reeds), Tete Montoliu (p), Tommy Potter (b), Kenny Clarke (d).

REFERENCE: IJ 513

This DVD brings together two complete previously unissued concerts. The first, filmed in Milan in 1962, presents Kirk in the company of another famous blind musician, Catalonian pianist Tete Montoliu, who had recently recorded with Kirk at the Café Montmartre, in Copenhagen: Roland Kirk (multiple reeds), Tete Montoliu (p), Tommy Potter (b), Kenny Clarke (d). Live in Milan, Italy, November 15, 1962.

Tracks:

1. Blues in F (7:22)

2. A Cabin in the Sky (6:21)

3. 3-In-1 Without the Oil (7:06)

The second concert presents Kirk's regular 1967 quartet in Prague, and contains songs they were rehearsing live in order to include them in their subsequent album: "The Inflated Tear", which they recorded just a few days after this European tour. Roland Kirk (multiple reeds), Ron Burton (p), Steve Novosel (b), Jimmy Hopps (d). Live at the Fourth Mezinarodni Jazz Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, October 19, 1967.

4. Ode to Billie Joe (11:00)

5. My Ship (5:37)

6. Creole Love Call (9:31)

7. The Inflated Tear (4:46)

8. Lovellevelliloqui (7:03)

9. Making Love After Hours (4:41)

10. Free Interlude / Bessie's Blues (1:34)

Running Time: 75 mins. (B&W / Mono)

BTW: the Kirk-Montoliu tracks are from 1964 and NOT from 1962. I've sent them this correction with no reply, so far.

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I've been re-reading John Kurth's Bright Moments. Not the best written book, but since it's the only one, I'll gladly read it. I've listening to Kirk for the first time in over a year, but I don't know why I haven't listened in a while. I forgot how much I like the album Volunteered Slavery and Slightly Latin. I like him because he was a great songwriter as well as a musician.

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