Wednesday, April 22, 2009

rashaan roland kirk


roland kirk is my hero.  i've been listening to him almost constantly as i've been holed up in the apartment sick the last couple of days.  a bit free jazz, a bit soul, very complicated yet melodic jazz, very much like mingus, though that might be an oversimplification.

if you're looking for some new jazz LPs, and want to stray from the davis/coltrane canon, pick up either blacknuss, voluntary slavery or inflated tear.  kirk seemlessly picks apart jazz and creates something new, quite unlike anything else.  his cover of "ain't no sunshine" may be one of my fav jazz songs of all time.....

and yeah did i mention, he was blind, often played more than one saxophone at once, and had stage antics to rival any rock n roller....?   yep, i love this guy.......

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