Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear (Live in Prague, 1967)

Line-up:
Roland Kirk - multiple reeds
Ron Burton -piano
Steve Novosel - bass
Jimmy Hopps - drums

Jaki Byard - The Jaki Byard Experience (1968)

Pianist Jaki Byard and the wondrous Roland Kirk (here switching between tenor, clarinet, and manzello) were two of the few jazz musicians who could play in literally every jazz style, from New Orleans to bop and free form. If only they had recorded a history-of-jazz album. Fortunately, they did meet up on a few occasions, including this brilliant quartet session with bassist Richard Davis and drummer Alan Dawson. They romp on Bud Powell's "Parisian Thoroughfare," Thelonious Monk's "Evidence," "Shine on Me," and "Teach Me Tonight." Byard duets with Davis on his own "Hazy Eve," but best of all is the pianist's duet with Kirk on "Memories of You." This set was also reissued as half of the Roland Kirk two-LP set Pre-Rahsaan.

By Steve Huey in All Music Guide

Styles:
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Parisian Thoroughfare (10:05)
02 - Hazy Eve (04:34)
03 - Shine on Me (04:16)
04 - Evidence (04:24)
05 - Memories of You (07:13)
06 - Teach Me Tonight (05:23)

Line-up:
Jaki Byard: piano
Roland Kirk: tenor saxophone, manzello, clarinet, whistle, kirkbam
Richard Davis: bass
Alan Dawson: drums

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - I Say a Little Prayer (1969)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man (1976)

The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man was Rahsaan Roland Kirk's first album for Warner Brothers, recorded before the stroke that impaired him. Kirk is at full creative and musical strength. These seven tracks are an utter astonishment. Kirk's playing of saxophones, harmonica, flutes, and euphonium is deep, soulful, and even profound in places. "Theme for the Eulipions" (which opens the album), "Giant Steps," and "There Will Never Be Another You" features an all-star band that includes Charlie Persip, a young Hilton Ruiz, bassist Buster Williams, Romeo Perique on baritone saxophone, and Howard Johnson on tuba. The version of "Sweet Georgia Brown," with its wacky percussion and whistling, is so utterly joyful and funky it's perhaps the definitive jazz version of the tune. But it's the readings of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You" and Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" that take the album to an entirely new place. They are, though very different from one another, so utterly moving and aesthetically beautiful, they elevate music to the level of poetry. This is one that's utterly necessary for fans, and a very fitting intro for the novice.

By Thom Jurek in All Music Guide

Styles:
Modal
Modern Creative
Hard Bop

Tracks:
01 - Theme for the Eulipions (09:30)
02 - Sweet Georgia Brown (04:47)
03 - I'll Be Seeing You (06:09)
04 - Loving You (04:49)
05 - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (06:22)
06 - There Will Never Be Another You (05:09)
07 - Giant Steps (06:12)

Line-up:
Roland Kirk: tenor saxophone, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, harmonica, euphonium
Howard Johnson: tuba (tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Romeo Penque: baritone saxophone, oboe (tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Hilton Ruiz: piano, celesta (tracks 1 & 4-7)
Buster Williams: bass (tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Charlie Persip: drums (tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Joe Habao Texidor: percussion, vocals (tracks 1 & 4-7)
Betty Neals: recitation (track 1)
Maeretha Stewart: vocals (track 1)
Hank Jones: piano (track 2)
Milt Hinton: bass (track 2)
Fred Moore: washboard (track 2)
Wilton Eaton: whistling (track 2)
Trudy Pitts: organ (track 3)
William Butler: guitar (tracks 3-5)
Bill Carney: drums (tracks 3-5)
Arthur Jenkins: keyboards (tracks 4 & 5)
Matathias Pearson: bass (tracks 4 & 5)
Jerry Griffin: drums (tracks 4 & 5)
Warren Smith: percussion (tracks 4 & 5)

Roland Kirk - Pedal Up (1975)

Line-up:
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - horns
McCoy Tyner - piano
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums

Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear (1967)

The debut recording by Roland Kirk (this was still pre-Rahsaan) on Atlantic Records, the same label that gave us Blacknuss and Volunteered Slavery, is not the blowing fest one might expect upon hearing it for the first time. In fact, producer Joel Dorn and label boss Neshui Ertegun weren't prepared for it either. Kirk had come to Atlantic from Emarcy after recording his swan song for them, the gorgeous Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith, in April. In November Kirk decided to take his quartet of pianist Ron Burton, bassist Steve Novosel, and drummer Jimmy Hopps and lead them through a deeply introspective, slightly melancholy program based in the blues and in the groove traditions of the mid-'60s. Kirk himself used the flutes, the strich, the Manzello, whistle, clarinet, saxophones, and more -- the very instruments that had created his individual sound, especially when some of them were played together, and the very things that jazz critics (some of whom later grew to love him) castigated him for. Well, after hearing the restrained and elegantly layered "Black and Crazy Blues," the stunning rendered "Creole Love Call," the knife-deep soul in "The Inflated Tear," and the twisting in the wind lyricism of "Fly by Night," they were convinced -- and rightfully so. Roland Kirk won over the masses with this one too, selling over 10,000 copies in the first year. This is Roland Kirk at his most poised and visionary; his reading of jazz harmony and fickle sonances are nearly without peer. And only Mingus understood Ellington in the way Kirk did. That evidence is here also. If you are looking for a place to start with Kirk, this is it.

by Thom Jurek in All Music Guide

Styles:
Post-Bop
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - The Black and Crazy Blues (06:07)
02 - A Laugh for Rory (02:54)
03 - Many Blessings (04:45)
04 - Fingers in the Wind (04:18)
05 - The Inflated Tear (04:58)
06 - The Creole Love Call (03:53)
07 - A Handful of Fives (02:42)
08 - Fly by Night (04:19)
09 - Lovellevellilloqui (04:17)
10 - I'm Glad There is You (02:12)

Line-up:
Roland Kirk - tenor sax, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, whistle, English horn or flexafone
Ron Burton - piano
Steve Novosel - bass
Jimmy Hopps - drums
Dick Griffith - trombone