Rahsaan Roland Kirk

An unbeatable live performance by American multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977) offers two full CDs and nearly 90 minutes of the unique blend of sophistication, soul and unselfconscious show business he brought to every situation. Accompanied by  smaller combo he would lead later on, the material encompasses Kirk-composed showpieces, Duke Ellington classics, hits, American songbook standards, earthy Blues and even a couple of then current pop hits, including the funkiest version of “Ode To Billie Joe” imaginable. His associates here are Jazz journeymen pianist Rahn Burton, bassist Steve Novosel and drummer Jimmy Hopps

Unbeknownst to Kirk though this well-received gig may have also marked the last time non-electrified Jazz would be a popular music. Seek & Listen was recorded in September 1967, just after the so-called Summer of Love, which confirmed that Rock music and its drug and fashion offshoots would very shortly eclipse Jazz as young people’s music. Aggressive and emotional  innovative Free Jazz had already been rejected by all but a minority, Jazz Rock fusion with empty guitar solos and overloud beats would quickly degenerate to showy instrumental pop, so acoustic groups like these became both old-fashioned and un-hip. But Kirk’s technical skills and innate theatricism would never deserted him.

Over the next decade until his death at 42, after suffering a debilitating stroke, he worked with electric instruments and recorded pop ballads and Soul standards, investigated exotic rhythm instruments, added vocalists and vocal choruses to his record dates and developed a semi-mystical African-American stance with jive talks, pseudo-scatting and chants. Sadly he didn’t live to experience the so-called Jazz Revival of the early 1990s. Since his music included elements of dissonance and traditional swing as well as the then-favored Bop he probably wouldn’t have fit in anyways.

That means sophisticated listeners are left with variegated performances like these. Fine demonstration of his range as he expresses himself with tough tenor saxophone bites, breathy, lowing flute projections, doubles his improvisational coloration by adding distinctive manzello and stritch and reed flexatone timbres to his sax playing and breaks up impassioned and straight-ahead solos with unexpected sirens and whistles. He duets with himself on flute and nose flute on some tracks (“this is the most educated nose in the world,” he crows). And he even sings lustily on “I Got It Bad …” and humorously on “Down By the Riverside”, after an exceptional “Blues for C.T.” and reaches Blues shouter mode on “Making Love After Hours”. He and the band swing convincingly without condescending to the older material, while his heartfelt rendering of material like “Mingus-Griff Song” and “Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith” demonstrate his ability to mix serious emotions and skillful techniques.

Overall Seek & Listen Live at the Penthouse is a fine addition for those who already know Kirk’s work or as a potentially eye-opening – or is it ear-opening – introduction for those who don’t. It’s just too bad Kirk couldn’t have lived longer to gain more of the acclaim he deserved.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: CD 1: 1. The Jump Thing 2. Alfie 3. Mingus-Griff Song 4. Medley: Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye, I’ve Got It Bad (and that Ain’t Good), Sophisticated Lady, Satin Doll 5. Medley: Blues for C & T, Happy Days Are Here Again, Down By The Riverside CD 2: 1.
Ode To Billie Joe 2. Prelude To A Kiss 3. Funk Underneath 4. Lovellevelliloqui  5. Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith 6. Making Love After Hours

Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk (tenor saxophone, flute, stritch, manzello, flexatone, siren and whistle); Rahn Burton (piano); Steve Novosel (bass) and Jimmy Hopps (drums)