Dave Rickert
October 2002

Combing the Catalog
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By David Rickert

Critics of Roland Kirk claim he was a virtuoso player who presented himself as nothing more than a sideshow act; others champion him as a serious artist who used his instrumental trickery to fashion true art. In truth, Kirk is probably somewhere in between. Although he recorded some great albums, much of his music is filled with ideas that never quite reach fruition or frustrating experimental gibberish. However, because of their boundless creativity and experimentation, virtually every Kirk album is worth a listen. Collectables has recently reissued seven CDs from Kirk’s work in the late sixties and seventies. Here are four from that batch.

Rahsaan Rahsaan
1969 The first side of Rahsann Rahsann is a large conceptual work, the subject matter of which is anybody’s guess. Kirk is clearly hot about something, perhaps how many influential black musicians have been ignored over the years. No matter-“The Seeker” is Kirk at his best, exploring a variety of genres from avant-garde to New Orleans in the span of seventeen minutes. However, the grouchy speeches and useless sound effects do detract somewhat from the music. At this point in time Kirk was still mining the jazz field for ideas, and on the live second half (always the best way to experience Kirk), a version of “Satin Doll” and a medley of four standards show how he could expertly come up with novel turns on some old chestnuts In particular, Kirk shows his remarkable ability to play two instruments at once, seemingly channeling two different parts of his brain, to achieve sublime melodies. To cap it all off, we get the racy blues “Baby Let Me Shake Your Tree”, which features Kirk’s flute playing, lovely as always. Rahsaan Rahsaan effectively displays two sides to Kirk: the spontaneous energy of the live Kirk offset by the methodical experimentation of the studio work.

Left and Right
1968 Left and Right begins with another long conceptual work, this time with an enormous band featuring the likes of Alice Coltrane, Pepper Adams, and Roy Haynes. All in all there’s close to eight horns featured here, yet Kirk still feels the need to double up on instruments from time to time. However, “Expansions” largely showcases the work of Kirk the composer, and demonstrates his fascination with Mingus and Ellington charts with a few oddball ideas and sound effects thrown in, a genuine attempt at Third Stream music that works more often than not. The second half is an unlikely turn; Kirk playing a series of ballads backed by a string orchestra. Sax and strings albums had all but fallen by the wayside by the late sixties, yet no one ever accused Kirk of following the crowd. “Lady’s Blues” is a lovely Kirk original delivered on flute followed by “IX Love” the way it was meant to be heard. More than any other album, Left and Right establishes Kirk as a skillful improviser who can play passionately, beautifully and surprisingly, conventionally.

Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle
1973

With this album Kirk began to fashion what he called “black classical music”, a far cry from the jazz he was playing just a few years earlier. Unfortunately as with many such overblown aspirations, the music fails to live up to the lofty goals. Most of the first side seems like a work of progress, a string of two or three note movements repeated for several minutes; Kirk continues to solo long after the interest is gone. Some of it is pastoral and beautiful, but most of it is abrasive trick or treat music (due in part to the caterwauling vocals in the background). The last selection is another lengthy piece, which is basically a twenty minute, one breath saxophone solo, which coasts through a variety of genres. In the liner notes Kirk makes sure that we know that this was recorded in one take, as if the feat was a greater accomplishment than the music itself. Although this is the most interesting part of the album, it still falls short, with Kirk resting on his virtuosity rather than creating music of lasting interest. The klezmer melody halfway through seems like an idea that should have been cast off. Although littered with moments of genuine inspiration, this album represents work that wasn’t followed to its logical end, and the listener will find themselves still waiting for the miracle promised in the title

The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color
1975

Kirk wisely abandoned the third stream experiments for a completely different direction on this double LP. After a brief narration involving Kirk’s dreams (another of his nonsensical rants), Kirk accomplishes quite a feat: a version of “Bye, Bye, Blackbird” in which he manages to sound like Miles on trumpet and Coltrane on tenor sax. It’s a great trick, but the rest of the tunes are firmly in the seventies soul jazz and funk vein, obviously a calculated move to capture the large rock and roll audience. Although bringing nothing new to the table, the tunes are memorable and catchy and played straight; there’s nothing even remotely avant-garde in the music here. However, too much of the album is filled with random sound collages called “Dreams” which are made up of galloping horses, ping pong games, and other random noises which are easy enough to skip on a CD but must have been maddening on record. These break up the continuity of the listening experience tremendously, especially when we’d all just like to hear more Kirk. To top it all off, the third side of the album consists of reworked versions of songs that already appeared on the first two sides and the fourth side is mostly silence with some conversation at the end (just in case you buy it, I won’t give away what you hear after the long wait.) A rambling work that unfortunately would have been better pared down as one album, Kirk gets a little too self-indulgent and arty while trying to court the mainstream, but ends up pleasing neither side. For completists only.

Rahsaan Rahsaan
Tracks: 1. The Seeker 2. Satin Doll 3. Sweet Fire 4. Going Home 5. Sentimental Journey 6. In Monument 7. Lover 8. Baby Let Me Shake Your Tree.
Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk-tenor sax, flute, manzello, stritch, clarinet, and other miscellaneous instruments; Howard Johnson-tuba; Dick Griffin-trombone; LeRoy Jenkins-violin; Ron Burton-piano; Sonelius Smith-celeste, piano; Vernon Martin-bass; James Madison-drums; Alvern Burton-conga-Joe Texidor-tambourine, sound tree.

Left and Right
Tracks: 1. Black Mystery Has Been Revealed 2. Lady's Blues 3. I X Love 4. Hot Cha 5. Quintessence 6. I Waited for You 7. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing 8. Expansions.
Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Organ, Clarinet, Flute, Arranger, Celeste, Sax (Tenor), Narrator, Piano (Thumb), Stritch, Manzello; Pepper Adams - baritone sax; Julius Watkins - French Horn; Sanford Allen - String Section; Julien Barber - String Section; Alfred Brown - String Section; James Buffington - French Horn, String Section; Ron Burton - Piano; Selwart Clarke - String Section; Alice Coltrane - Harp; Winston Collymore - String Section; Noel DaCosta - String Section; Richard Elias - String Section; Gerald Brown - Percussion; Dick Griffin - Trombone; Roy Haynes - Drums; Jimmy Hopps - Drums; Leo Kruczek - String Section; Vernon Martin - Bass, Harp; Charles McCracken - String Section; George Ockner - String Section; Gene Orloff - String Section; Benny Powell - Bass, Trombone; Matthew Raimondi - String Section; Warren Smith - Percussion, Vibraphone; Anthony Sophos - String Section; Frank Wess - Woodwinds; Harold Furmansky - String Section; Richard Gene Williams - Trumpet.

Prepare Thyslef To Deal With A Miracle
Tracks: 1. Salvation and Reminiscing 2. Seasons: One Mind Winter/Summer 3. Seasons: Ninth Ghost 4. Celestial Bliss 5. Saxophone Concerto: Saxophone Miracle 6. Saxophone Concerto: One Breath Beyond; 7. Saxophone Concerto: Dance of Revolution.
Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk-clarinet, nose flute, flute, black mystery pipes, baby E flat sax, tenor sax; Charles McGhee-trumpet; Dick Griffin-trombone; Harry Smiles- English horn, oboe; Ron Burton-piano; Henry Pearson-bass; Robert Shy-drums; Sonny Brown or Ralph McDonald-percussion; Selwart Clarke, Sanford Allen, Julien Barber, Gayle Dixon- violins; Al Brown-viola; Kermit Moore-cello; Jeanne Lee and Dee Dee Bridgewater-background vocals.

The Case of the Three Sided Dream in Audio Color
Tracks: 1. Conversation 2. Bye Bye Blackbird 3. Horses 4. High Heel Sneakers 5. Dream 6. Echoes of Primitive Ohio and Chili Dogs 7. The Entertainer 8. Freaks for the Festival 9. Dream 10. Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies 11. Dream 12. The Entertainer 13. Dream 14. Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies 15. Dream 16. Freaks for the Festival 17. Sesroh 18. Bye Bye Blackbird 19. Conversation 20. Side Four.
Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk ­tenor saxophone, flute, trumpet, stritchaphone, and manzello; Cornell Dupree, Keith Loving, and Hugh McCracken-guitars; Arthur Jenkins, Hilton Ruiz, and Richard Tee-keyboards; Francisco Centeno, Metathias Pearson and Bill Salter-basses; Sonny Brown, Steve Gadd-drums; Lawrence Killian-congas; Ralph MacDonald-congas and percussion; Pat Patrick-baritone saxophone.

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