Jazz Articles about Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Jazz Icons: Rahsaan Roland Kirk Live in '63 and '67

by C. Michael Bailey
October 22, 2008

Jazz Icons: Rahsaan Roland Kirk live in '63 and '67Jazz Icons2008In her forward to the Jazz Icons Series 3: Rahsaan Roland Kirk live in '63 and '67, Dorthann Kirk praised the DVD for showing her husband's talent “as a complete musician and not just a musical freak who played three horns simultaneously." That said, Kirk may not ever be seen as a jazz musician. He was no more typical a musician than Art Tatum. ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Classic Black Classical Musician

by Tom Greenland
December 27, 2007

As the thirtieth anniversary of his passing (Dec. 5th, 1977) approaches, Rahsaan Roland Kirk remains a palpable presence and pervading influence, musically and personally. A complex man of seemingly paradoxical traits, he was a childlike prankster with old-soul wisdom, a self-touting egoist who humbly honored his musical forefathers, a tradition-bound futuristic pioneer, a highly combative man who'd walk that extra mile for a friend, a vaudevillian show-boater who took music more seriously than most--in sum, an unorthodox and ultimately uncategorizable ...

Roland Kirk with Jack McDuff: Kirk's Work

by Troy Collins
May 10, 2007

Technically his third album, following Introducing Roland Kirk (Chess, 1960), and a previously unissued R&B session (Triple Threat), Kirk's Work pre-dates the boundless surrealism of his post-Rahsaan era. Sharing the bill with organist Jack McDuff, the record is commonly regarded as a fairly straight-ahead date made years before Kirk gradually transformed from a stunning virtuoso multi-instrumentalist into an iconic musical shaman. While not as outrageous as some of Kirk's later albums, this sublime 1961 date has its fair share of ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Brotherman to the Fatherland

by Kurt Gottschalk
September 19, 2006

Of all the people trying to put jazz on the pop charts in the anything-goes period of the late '60s and early '70s--all the way up to Albert Ayler, for the love of Pete--probably the most successful at bridging the gap without watering it down was Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Long before the Steven Bernsteins and JA Granellis of the world were inflecting pop covers with jazz energy (and ignoring the instrumental and lethargic pop renditions of his contemporaries), Kirk was ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Brotherman in the Fatherland

by Rex Butters
August 19, 2006

The Masked Announcer, Joel Dorn, once again conjures up a brilliant, unheard tape by the late, lamented, legendary Rahsaan Roland Kirk. This time he brings us 34-year-old performances recorded for German radio and television (a later DVD edition, perhaps?), and officially released here for the first time. Relaxed and happy within the context of his regular working band, Rahsaan bares it all, from inhuman technique to limitless imagination, oceanic heart and soul. The collection focuses on Kirk's mastery of the ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Brotherman in the Fatherland

by David Rickert
June 4, 2006

It must have been something to catch a live performance by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Of course he plays multiple instruments at the same time on albums, but wouldn't it have been cool to actually see him do it? Unfortunately, this trick tended to obscure Kirk's talents as an improviser and composer in some circles, as his detractors labeled him a sideshow instead of a serious musician.

Brotherman In the Fatherland, a 1972 concert recording from Germany's Funkhaus, will ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Brotherman In The Fatherland

by Glenn Astarita
April 19, 2006

If there's any doubt left about Rahsaan Roland Kirk's brilliance, then this newly issued and previously unreleased live recording provides yet more evidence of his talents. Culled from tapes of his band's 1972 performance at Hamburg, Germany's Funkhaus, these sides present Kirk's all-encompassing approach to jazz. Asymmetrical combining free-form, pop-jazz and dabs of world music, the multi-reedman uses his modified saxophones, manzello and stritch, for additional tone clusters and divergence. Pianist Ron Burton's ascending choruses and harmonic chord progressions draw ...