Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom

358

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom
If Sun Ra was jazz music's Timothy Leary, then Rahsaan Roland Kirk was its Elijah.



Kirk, jazz music's most iconoclastic character, was also one of its most gifted. Once dismissed as a circus sideshow, he has seen his popularity, as well as his influence, steadily increase over the past twenty years. Kirk has been called many things'shaman, sage, charlatan, sideshow barker. But Rahsaan Roland Kirk represents the free spirit of jazz. He was a fearless improviser who invented his own instruments and played them all at once. He was most effective when playing tenor and flute, but made a good argument for his approach when he worked up a gale force, blowing four reeds at once (I note his last Hyena release, The Man Who Cried Fire and his variations on Paganini's 24th Caprice in Am, "Multi-Horn Variations.")



Compliments includes previously unknown and unreleased Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It is a collection of fragments and complete performances from his November 5, 1974 show at the Backdoor in San Diego, California. This appearance took place about nine months after Kirk recorded his landmark live recording Bright Moments.

In keeping with the artist's prophet status, these recordings, as well as those on The Man Who Cried Fire, can be thought of as the Dead Sea Scrolls of jazz. Kirk and company fade in on a hot "Passion Dance," only to cool down with a beautiful tenor rendition of "My One and Only Love." A superb juxtaposition of style and genre that characterized Kirk shows of the period (or any period). "Fly Town Nose Blues" is a flute blues that is very effective and swinging, albeit weird. Early '70s funk is in attendance with "Volunteer Slavery" and "Blacknuss," peppered with Kirk standards "Old Rugged Cross" and "Bright Moments."



Kirk's support is very good, but as in any Rahsaan Roland Kirk performance, the man himself is the center around which all revolves. He passionately referred to jazz as "black classic music" and never considered it anything less. Like Beethoven, Kirk elbowed his way to the front of the line and never acted as if he did not belong there. Kirk allegedly passed away December 5, 1977. That is certainly not true.

Track Listing

Passion Dance; My One And Only Love; Rahspeak #1; Fly Town Nose Blues; Volunteered Slavery; Rahspeak #2; Bright Moments; Old Rugged Cross; Blacknuss; Freaks For The Festivals; Rahspeak #3.

Personnel

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Reeds, Flute; Hilton Ruiz: Piano; Henry Pearson: Bass; John Goldsmith: Drums; Samson Verge: Percussion.

Album information

Title: Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Collectables

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.