Rahsaan Roland Kirk | |
|---|---|
 Kirk performing in 1972 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Theodore Kirk |
| Born | August 7, 1935 Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | December 5, 1977 (aged 42) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, hard bop, soul jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader |
| Instrument(s) | Tenor saxophone, clarinet, stritch, manzello, nose flute, flute, cor anglais, keyboards, percussion |
| Years active | 1955–1977 |
| Labels | King, Chess, Prestige, Mercury, Limelight, Verve, Atlantic, Warner Bros. |
| Formerly of | Charles Mingus, Quincy Jones |
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935[1] – December 5, 1977),[2] known earlier in his career simply as Roland Kirk, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.
Ronald Theodore Kirk[1] was born in Columbus, Ohio,[2] where he lived in a neighborhood known as Flytown. He became blind at two years old, which he said was a result of improper medical treatment. As a teenager, Kirk studied at the Ohio State School for the Blind.[2] By 15, he was on the road playing rhythm and blues on weekends with Boyd Moore's band. According to saxophonist Hank Crawford, "He would be like this 14-year-old blind kid playing two horns at once. They would bring him out and he would tear the joint up." Crawford heard him during this period and said he was unbelievable. He remarked, "Now they had him doing all kinds of goofy stuff but he was playing the two horns and he was playing the shit out of them. He was an original from the beginning."[3] Kirk felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make '"Roland".[3] In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.[4]
Kirk was politically outspoken. During his concerts, between songs he often talked about topical issues, including African-American history and the Civil Rights Movement. His monologues were often laced with satire and absurdist humor. According to comedian Jay Leno, when Leno toured with Kirk as Kirk's opening act, Kirk would introduce him by saying: "I want to introduce a young brother who knows the black experience and knows all about the white devils.... Please welcome Jay Leno!"[5]: 109
In 1975, Kirk had a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body.[2] He continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm.[2] At a live performance at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London he even managed to play two instruments, and carried on to tour internationally and to appear on television.[6]
He died from a second stroke in 1977, aged 42, the morning after performing in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.[7]
Columbus Mayor Jack Sensenbrenner had declared Saturday, Dec. 10, 1970, "Rahsaan day," according to the Columbus Dispatch obituary that appeared on Thursday, Dec. 8, 1977.[8]
Kirk's hometown of Columbus was not appreciative of his work for most of his career. He was thrown out of a local nightclub because his music was too difficult to understand, and he left for Los Angeles and further touring. In the 21st century, jazz fans in Columbus have been embracing his legacy.[9]
Kirk's musical career spans from 1955 until his death in 1977. He preferred to lead his own bands and rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones, drummer Roy Haynes and worked with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the Austin Powers films.[10]
Kirk's multi-instrumentality was credited as having a substantial musical conception. This inclusivity included blues music, a love of stride piano and early jazz, and an appreciation for pop tunes.[2] But his vision was much wider than that of most of his contemporaries. According to producer Joel Dorn, he was also hugely knowledgeable about classical music. Pieces by Saint-Saëns, Hindemith, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Villa-Lobos would all feature on his albums over the years, alongside standards, pop songs and original compositions. Rahsaan's influences went beyond jazz and consequentially, he preferred the term "Black Classical Music".[3]
His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw from many elements of the music's past, from ragtime to swing and free jazz.[2] Kirk also absorbed classical influences, and his artistry reflected elements of pop music by composers such as Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, as well as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and other jazz musicians.[2]
Kirk played and collected many musical instruments, mainly multiple saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His primary saxophones were a standard tenor saxophone, stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's conventional upturned bell), and a manzello (a modified saxello soprano sax, with a larger, upturned bell).[2] A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade. Kirk modified instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique.[11] Critic Gary Giddins wrote that Kirk's tenor playing alone was enough to bring him "renown".[4]
Usually, he appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck,[2] and at times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonizing with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using circular breathing. He used the multiple horns to play true chords, essentially functioning as a one-man saxophone section. Kirk insisted that he was only trying to emulate the sounds he heard in his head. Even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues.[4] The live album Bright Moments (1973) is an example of one of his shows.
Kirk was also an influential flute player, including recorders. According to Giddins, Kirk was the first major jazz innovator on flute after Eric Dolphy (who died in 1964).[4] Kirk employed several techniques, including singing or humming into the flute at the same time as playing. Another was to play the standard transverse flute at the same time as a nose flute.
He played a variety of other instruments, including whistles; often kept a gong within reach; the clarinet, harmonica, English horn, and was a competent trumpeter.[12] He utilized unique approaches, such as playing a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece.
He also made use of non-musical devices, such as alarm clocks, sirens, or a section of common garden hose (dubbed "the black mystery pipes"). From the early 1970s, his studio recordings used tape-manipulated musique concrète and primitive electronic sounds before such things became commonplace.[4]
The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color was a unique album in the annals of recorded jazz and popular music. It was a two-LP set, with Side 4 apparently "blank", the label not indicating any content. However, once word of "the secret message" got around among Rahsaan's fans, one would find that about 12 minutes into Side 4 appeared the first of two telephone answering machine messages recorded by Kirk, the second following soon thereafter (but separated by more blank grooves). The surprise impact of these segments appearing on "blank" Side 4 was lost on the initial CD reissue of this album (though restored as track 20 on the CD re-release).
He gleaned information on what was happening in the world via radio and TV. His later recordings often incorporated his spoken commentaries on current events, including Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal. The 3-Sided Dream album was a "concept album" which incorporated "found" or environmental sounds and tape loops, tapes being played backwards, etc. Snippets of Billie Holiday singing are also heard briefly. The album even confronts the rise of influence of computers in society, as Rahsaan threatens to pull the plug on the machine trying to tell him what to do.
In the album Other Folks' Music the spoken words of Paul Robeson, another outspoken black artist, can be briefly heard.
Compilations and box sets
With Quincy Jones
With Charles Mingus
With others
