Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Rahsaan Roland Kirk / Yusef Lateef: Separate But Equal

257

Rahsaan Roland Kirk / Yusef Lateef: Separate But Equal

By

View read count
Rahsaan Roland Kirk / Yusef Lateef: Separate But Equal
Back in the days when Joel Dorn, the 32 Jazz majordomo, walked the hallowed hall of Atlantic Records, he nourished the hope someday to bring two of the most luminous exponents of Great Black Music, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Yusef Lateef, together in the studio. Alas, Kirk took ill and ultimately died before Dorn's vision could be realized, so this reissue is the next best thing: Kirk's The Case of the 3-Sided Dream in Audio Color packaged together with Lateef's Part of the Search as a two-disc set, Separate But Equal. Certainly there are immediate similarities between the two sets: both feature vertiginous chatter, groove- and hook-laden music, bits of period guitar, imaginative and unusual covers, and, of course, great playing.

For sound effects, Rahsaan's disc takes the prize, for the rhythmic dog barking on "Echoes of Primitive Ohio and Chili Dogs" and the galloping herd of "Horses." For covers, his two takes of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" are hard to beat. The first is a wondrously swinging blues; the second is more rocking and free, even reminiscent of some of Miles' fusion apocalypses of those days. Kirk even quotes the Archie Bunker theme song at the beginning of the second take. Lateef's doo-wop "In the Still of the Night" is as offbeat, in a completely different direction, and as successful.

Most striking about Dream is that Kirk plays trumpet on it, along with the usual array of outlandish and ordinary reeds (tenor sax, bass sax, stritchaphone, and manzello, along with flute). His trumpet is muted but not as overtly Milesian as that of many. As usual with Kirk, the backgrounds are generally funky and indebted to the pop funk of the late Sixties and early Seventies, but the virtuosity he lays over those grooves is like nothing out of James Brown.

Lateef's disc has fewer covers, although the originals breathe the air of an earlier era, beginning with Kenny Barron's "K.C. Shuffle," a flashy r&b excursion. "Lunceford Prance" is a retro-swing dance number, long before retro-swing was cool; Lateef sounds utterly convincing in settings like these, perhaps owing to the fact that he came up playing this sort of music and remains, at least on discs like these, one of its unsung exponents. Lateef's more serious side comes forth on minor numbers like "Soul's Bakery," on which his tenor discourses querulously over a rhythm ostinato. Only one of the numbers, "Gettin' Sentimental," is over five minutes long, and the large ensemble here is as tight as Lateef always ensures: they get in, establish themselves, and don't waste time with needless emoting.

Most Kirkian is the joky "Superfine," although the whole disc is characterized by the serious comedy and slapdash precision that distinguish the best of Kirk. Dorn had a good idea, from the sound of these two discs, and he was wise to put them together.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Separate But Equal | Year Released: 1999 | Record Label: 32 Records

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.