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

I purchased this last year as a gift for my hairdresser who is a 62 year old black male. He had previously, mentioned that he liked this artist and was unable to find his work locally. He loved this and said that he would recommend this to jazz lover or those who like this artist's work.

A magnificent taste of art in motion, created by an individual who still inspires and teaches. Rahsaan was an amazing thinker, seeing through sound, sensitive to his nation's problems of race. He overcame so much, moving, inventing, creating, performing, teaching, befriending and spending himself entirely in the exhausting quest to manifest his inner heart in art. He's gone but never forgotten as we are lucky to have these little gems. In life we rarely see but disbelieve, rarely smile and cry inside at the same time. Rahsaan is up with other giant achievers, those jazz individuals who expressed their own art while instructing by force of example in creativity. Ellington, Armstrong, Parker, younger Miles and Coltrane, Mingus, so many others, gave us the love of listening and the will to play, sing, compose listen and aim at inner peace and greater understanding. Rahsaan lives for me; I played two saxes, not so well but joyously, since 1964, after hearing of him(not any actual sound) and reading in Downbeat magazine. I found I could hear riffs and phrases at least, could aim to expand thought, and even to stop my fellow musos as they laughed and wondered. Rahsaan may help a new multiple approach to expression in all arts to happen...one day. But there was only one, an under-rated and exquisite performer, full of fun, mischief, bold concepts, social awareness and unique skills. He gave the impression of such assurance, I don't recall a mistake, a notable flaw, a pause of self-doubt. So good.

Having seen Roland Kirk three times, and spoken to him on one occasion, I was truly interested in this installment of the Jazz Icon series more than most. Little video exists of Rahsaan so this would be rare indeed. I was not disappointed. Here is Kirk, a decade before I would see him, playing much of the repertoire that I came to love. Also here is Kirk with the woodwind acrobatics that few could copy: playing three horns at once, playing for seamless minutes through his "circular breathing" technique, and pulling out his little noisemakers (whistles, music boxes) to add punctuation to the songs. True to form, the three shows on the DVD are from Europe, where jazz has a much greater following than here, but who cares? Here are the shows for you and me to see. The black and white camera work is very good and the audio is clean. If you know about Kirk, you should have this. If you don't, this is a great introduction to one of the special musicians in jazz.

If you thought that Roland Kirk's rep rested on the novelty of playing as many as three reeds simultaneously, check out this DVD. The man could play.

This DVD is a treat for those fortunate enough to have experienced a Kirk performance in an intimate jazz club like the Village Vanguard, and will be a revelation for those watching him play for the first time after only just hearing him on albums previously. You also get the extra added bonus of the great European drummer Daniel Humair prodding Kirk along, as if the ever creative multi-instrumentalist needed any extra inspiration or stimulation. The amazing thing is that Rahsaan in the '70's was perhaps even better, although his best recordings were arguably Rip, Rig, and Panic from the '60's and Bright Moments from the '70's.

There are simply no words adequate to describe the phenomenon that was Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Dreamer and prophet are in the mix, although iconoclast probably comes closest. The fact that Kirk was blind yet could play three horns simultaneously made him the most unusual and perhaps the most inspiring figure in jazz history. Yet both those facts take a back seat to his peerless musicianship, unimpeachable swing and unlimited soul. During his all too brief career (he died in 1977 at 41), Kirk defied expectations and set standards of experimentation and achievement that few others could match. He didn't really fit into any one musical bag, although he was most conversant in the interrelated languages of soul jazz, blues, gospel and hard bop. There was certainly nobody else like him, which the performances on this Jazz Icons DVD illuminate with striking clarity. Kirk is seen in a segment of a 1963 Belgian television series; a filmed nightclub gig in Amersfoort, Holland that same year; and at a 1967 Norway jazz festival. Despite the lack of an audience in the first segment, Kirk and his bandmates (George Gruntz on piano, Guy Pedersen on bass and Daniel Humair on drums) manage to fill the television studio with some genuine musical heat as they work through a program of original material and several standards stamped with Kirk's inimitable genius. The live ambience of the nightclub setting, again featuring the same band, seems to push Kirk to an even higher level of energy and inspiration. (And it's a kick to watch the Dutch hipsters in the club drinking and smoking and grooving to Rahssan's sounds.) The jazz festival gig also finds Kirk in excellent form, this time backed by pianist Ron Burton, drummer Alex Riel, and the great Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. The footage in all three segments will be a revelation for those who never had the opportunity to watch Kirk perform. Ironically, his awe-inspiring technical facility tended to overshadow what an amazing soloist he was. Unlike many of his more celebrated peers whose reliance on favorite licks and phrases sometimes compromised their spontaneity, Kirk never repeated himself, never stumbled over notes, never seemed at a loss for ideas. And always, truth and beauty and hope and sadness poured out of his horns. Anyone even remotely interested in the transformative power of jazz (which Kirk astutely dubbed "black classical music") needs this DVD in his or her collection.

Thank God someone had the good sense (or good fortune) to keep these old films. This DVD clearly shows that multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk was a 'king' and not the 'clown' that many jazz commentators labelled him during his life-time. The three concerts featured here show Kirk on top form, backed by great trios. The straight-ahead style of Kirk's playing on this DVD is from his "pre-Rahsaan/avante-garde" period and is foot-stompingly accessible. Naxos has done a great job in resurrecting these films. Given the age and the technology available to the original film-makers both the picture and sound quality are excellent, although the filming at the 1967 Norway concert was pretty unimaginative. The 23-page booklet that comes with this DVD gives some excellent information about both the man and these concerts (something which other music DVD production companies could do with copying). If you like this DVD, try to get hold of Roland Kirk's 1961 records "We Free Kings" (tunes from which are featured on this DVD) and "Kirks Work".

このミュージシャンほど「現代に生まれてくれば良かったのに」と思う人はいません。CDで音だけ聞いてると普通のコンボジャズなのに、映像で見るとまさに一人ビッグバンド！！。３本サックス＋フルート＋リコーダー＋ホイッスル＋本人の叫び＆スキャット！。そうか！こんな演奏だったのか！。あまりに先鋭すぎて理解されにくかったのもうなずける。アメリカではジャズはもう古くなりつつあって、彼のようない「とんがったジャズ」はヨーロッパにしか活路がなかったのか？、。３本のサックスを見事に操り、すばらしいハーモニーを奏でている。１本のサックスにはセロハンテープ？で固定したキーが見られたり、２本のサックスを片手で操作したり、彼の創意工夫が見て取れる。ビバップをとうに追い越し、マイルスやコルトレーンさえも自分の音楽のほんのエッセンスに使いつつ、出来る事のすべてを出し切り、しかもユーモアもたっぷり含んでいる。ああ、目の前で見たかった！。