Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1935 – December 5, 1977), 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.
Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, where he lived in a neighbourhood 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. By age fifteen 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." Hank heard him during this period and said he was unbelievable. Later on Kirk felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make '"Roland".
The musician began recording in 1960. The following year he joined the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop. “This man is what jazz is all about,” Mr. Mingus declared. “He's real.” After initial skepticism, Mr. Kirk quickly won the approval of jazz critics, who gave him first place in the Down Beat international critics’ poll in 1962. And, year after year, they gave him a top position in both the flute and “miscellaneous instrument” categories.
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| Edith & Roland Kirk with Ronnie Scott, London 1963. |
In 1963 and 1964, Mr. Kirk toured Europe and received excellent notices. Early in his career, he was molding the style that he later perfected - a splendid blend of the traditional and new. He was as confortable in playing pieces associated with saxophonists of the 1930s - Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Lester Young - as he was innexploring new trends started by John Coltrane or Albert Ayler. His musical interests were not limited by style or period. He could be conventionally melodic or wildly abstract. He sat in with musicians as disparate as George Lewis, the elderly New Orleans clarinetist, or members of the jazz avantgarde, and he was equally at home in both situations.
Mr. Kirk's ability to play two and even three wind instruments at once set him apart from his contemporaries in the jazz world. But it also brought charges that this unusual talent was mere gimmickry. His primary instruments were the tenor saxophone; the manzello, a straightened saxophonelike instrument; the stritch, which looks like a huge blunderbuss, and the flute.
The saxophone, manzello and stritch were hung around his neck, along with a whistle, while the flute was stored in the bell of the saxophone. His instruments also included clarinet, a shortened song flute that he played with his nose and an electrified, humming “evil box.”
Mr. Kirk managed to play three‐part harmony with the saxophone, stritch and manzello, and duets with his flute and nose flute. But he disdained the suggestion that all he was offering was a musical trick. “I do everything for a reason,” he said. “Nothing is a gimmick. For me to live, I have to do what I feel. I'm not trying to turn music around. I'm just contributing what I think can be done.”
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!"
In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream. His social conscience led him to protest the lack of jazz musicians given television time. He headed the Jazz and People's Movement, which disrupted the Merv Griffin, Tonight and Dick Cavett shows. Subsequently, musicians were invited on the Today and Cavett shows to discuss the absence of jazz from TV. Mr. Kirk also led an ensemble, including Charles Mingus and Archie Shepp, in an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in early 1971. It was a rare showing for modern jazz on the Sullivan show.
In 1975, Kirk suffered a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body. He continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm. 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.
He died from a second stroke on December 5, 1977, aged 42, the morning after performing two concerts in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Washington Post & The New York Times)