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Roland Kirk


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...but my favorite has been "Volunteered Slavery."Ā  One side studio, one side live.Ā  It's incredible.Ā Ā 

Get the live album I, Eye, Aye next. That version of "Volunteered Slavery" blows the studio version out of the water.

c82904wg2s4.jpg

There is also a video release of this same show, which goes by a different name. I think it is called "The One Man Twins."

Edited by John B
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Is there a reason to get the Mercury box before picking up his Atlantic sides?Ā  And isn't there something to be said for trying to collect each LP or CD.Ā  Has anyone besides Bright Moments done this?Ā  Is it very hard to come by RRK's Emarcy LPs and if so is that why its just easier to go get the Mercury box?

cannonball-addict

I've had the Mercury box for 10 or so years now and its been a big favourite that I've dipped into constantly. Being a vinyl fetishist of late I've tried to pick up the Mercury/Limelight LPs when I've seen them and have in the racks the main ones such as 'Rip Rig & Panic', 'Domino', 'With Benny Golson', 'I Talk With The Spirits', 'In Copenhagen' and 'Slightly Latin'. The last of these was probably the most elusive but is one of my faves. If your main preference is the CD medium you can't go wrong with the box, which has pretty good mastering. The quality of the sessions is so uniformly high that it pays to go the whole hog and get the box. There's also a bonus live cut CD with Andrew Hill of 'A Stritch In Time'. :excited:

Edited by sidewinder
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Ugh, you really like Slightly Latin? With the Quincy Jones material at the end of the set it's the only dud stuff on the Mercury box, I think.

It's worth pointing out that the recent reissues of Domino has stuff not on the boxed set; but I gather the reissue of the Copenhagen set omits some of the material added to the Mercury set.

If you dig around you can find a weird 1960s TV program with John Cage & Roland Kirk (live at Ronnie Scott's & in London zoo) juxtaposed. They don't actually meet, but it's kind of nice to have them in the same show. Kirk is playing with Stan Tracey there.

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Ugh, you really like Slightly Latin?Ā  With the Quincy Jones material at the end of the set it's the only dud stuff on the Mercury box, I think.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. The weakest of the Mercury (well, Limelight) albums. A minor blip on an otherwise fine box.

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...but my favorite has been "Volunteered Slavery."Ā  One side studio, one side live.Ā  It's incredible.Ā 

Get the live album I, Eye, Aye next. That version of "Volunteered Slavery" blows the studio version out of the water.

c82904wg2s4.jpg

There is also a video release of this same show, which goes by a different name. I think it is called "The One Man Twins."

It will be mine... :excited::cool::w

Thanks for the recommendation! :tup

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Ugh, you really like Slightly Latin?

'Fraid so ! :)

I read the notes in the box set which put down this session as a 'filler' but I have to say that I find the music strangely catchy. Particularly Kirk's tenor solos. The 'Star Trecky' vocal chorus's are an acquired taste though.

That bit of film with Stan Tracey and Rahsaan at Ronnie Scotts was - by strange coincidence - broadcast by the BBC last night in the 'Jazz Britannia' repeat. He was on 'full bore' - too bad it was only a very brief snippet.

Edited by sidewinder
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Ugh, you really like Slightly Latin?Ā  With the Quincy Jones material at the end of the set it's the only dud stuff on the Mercury box, I think.

It's worth pointing out that the recent reissues of Domino has stuff not on the boxed set; but I gather the reissue of the Copenhagen set omits some of the material added to the Mercury set.

If you dig around you can find a weird 1960s TV program with John Cage & Roland Kirk (live at Ronnie Scott's & in London zoo) juxtaposed. They don't actually meet, but it's kind of nice to have them in the same show.Ā  Kirk is playing with Stan Tracey there.

Roland Kirk/John Cage: Sound? is available on dvd, paired with David, Moffett, & Ornette - "The Ornette Coleman Trio" 1966. I haven't seen the Kirk/Cage, but saw the Ornette on video and it alone is well worth the price of the dvd.

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Out in the Afternoon was my introduction to Rahsaan, immediately, immediately, as in got in the car, went back to the store for more, followed by Rip Rig and Panic/Please Don't You Cry Now Beautiful Edith.

I still think that these two are the most essential recordings in his legacy. I have a decent line of RRK discs on my shelf, but these are the two that I usually go to.

Rip Rig and Panic was an album that I then dubbed onto cassette to listen to in the car. For years it was one of three cassettes that I had in that car, and I never got tired of that music. Jaki Byard Richard Davis Elvin Jones and Rahsaan. Wow. I wish there was more.

I'm still hoping for a decent price on the box. I remember dave9199 getting a pretty good price a year or so ago. I'd love to have that thing!

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Hey all. My radio show is today at 3pm EST and besides featuring stuff like the new Fieldwork, David S. Ware Quartets and all the new Fresh Sound New Talent stuff, I will be doing choice Rahsaan Roland Kirk tracks from the Mercury Box set (which it turns out the station already owns) and the Atlantic vinyl I have.

The webstream for those of you outside Pittsburgh is at http://www.wrct.org and select the webstream option that says "Hi mp3." Do not attempt to use the ogg vorbis streams which are on top, they are difficult to work. If you have requests during the show you can email me them at jazz@wrct.org or you can instant message me on the air studio AOL instant messenger screenname, wrct883.

Hope some of you get to enjoy the show!

cannonball-addict

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I quite like it. Interesting choice of tunes, and it swings like crazy in places. Less several-horns-simultaneously than on some stuff, as far as I remember...

In fact, I think this illustrates quite nicely that Roland Kirk would have been a great player even if he'd only ever picked up one horn.

I'm not really that familiar with Jack McDuff's playing, so there are others who could answer more accurately with respect to his playing! I enjoy it a lot though, here.

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What's the verdict on the early set with McDuff? I seem to remember hearing it on the radio and thinking that it was good but not spectacular.

Yes, I like it but wouldn't say it's spectacular, either. In fact, I'd say it's slightly better than just good and would encourage the undecided to pick it up. As Red said, some fine and very swinging solos from Kirk.

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i'll weigh in and say i enjoyed slightly latin much more than kirk's works. The vocals are what sold me (not his, but the ladies'), plus the groove doesn't really seem to always be present on kirk's works. but to each their own

Edited by Claude Bartee
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  • 3 weeks later...

Out in the Afternoon was my introduction to Rahsaan, immediately, immediately, as in got in the car, went back to the store for more, followed by Rip Rig and Panic/Please Don't You Cry Now Beautiful Edith.

I still think that these two are the most essential recordings in his legacy. I have a decent line of RRK discs on my shelf, but these are the two that I usually go to.

Rip Rig and Panic was an album that I then dubbed onto cassette to listen to in the car. For years it was one of three cassettes that I had in that car, and I never got tired of that music. Jaki Byard Richard Davis Elvin Jones and Rahsaan. Wow. I wish there was more.

I'm still hoping for a decent price on the box. I remember dave9199 getting a pretty good price a year or so ago. I'd love to have that thing!

$200 smack-a-roos. Felt too impulsive at the time, but I'm glad I did it. I think the complete Copenhagen is coming out soon.

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Listened to some Kirk from the complete box set last night, about two hours worth from four of the discs.

I just keep realizing what an amazing artist he was!Ā  I shouldn't be surprised by now, but he keeps on surprising!Ā  Not an easy trick. . . .

I agree Lon, I have had the set for a little over a year and it has been a revelation.

I would highly recommend the box to anyone who has the chance to pick it up. Everybody needs some Kirk to brighten up their life. :)

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  • 1 year later...

Up. Just wanted to heap some praise on the new RVG of Kirk's Work. Nice album to begin with, but I think the sound has positively improved :tup

Some of my favorites:

We Free Kings is on top, with Rip Rig, Domino and Bright Moments next.

'Three for the Festival' is one of the baddest ass songs of all time!

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Two years ago (on this thread), Slightly Latin took something of a beating. Without diminishing the merits of any of his other albums, I'll go on record stating that this has always been my favorite Kirk record. I think it's too easy to be turned off by it on first listen (what with a Beatles cover, a Bacharach cover, and wordless vocals), but if you keep listening to what Kirk actually puts down as far as saxophone (and kazoo) playing ... damn!

To start, check out his tenor/stritch solo on "Raouf" ā€” that's some structure there, Jack. Then check out his baritone saxophone solo on "Juarez" ā€” Pat Patrick watch out! And have you ever heard "Walk On By" ripped up that hard? Bacharach probably couldn't sit down for a month after that version was recorded.

The Garnett Brown arrangements and Coleridge Perkinson vocal arrangements put Kirk at ease to have fun and swing hard. It seems to me Kirk's most natural element.

MaƱana! ^_^

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