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I've been listening to a lot of Rahsaan Roland Kirk lately and wondering why the man doesn't get more recognition in the free jazz world. People talk about Albert, Trane and Pharoah in reverential terms, and they should. These three players are deep and immensely spiritual musicians. But to me Rahsaan belongs right up there in that Pantheon.
Kirk is, like Jackie Byard, a compendium of the history of jazz. Some of his tunes touch on the energy of Sidney Bechet or Duke, and he is a brilliant hard bopper, but he also can freak out with the best of them. His classic recordings of the sixties and seventies mixed modalism, classic jazz, wonderful remakes of pop material like Bacharach/David tunes and his own intricate compositions which borrow from the blues, free jazz and classical music. Kirk was also a strong personality with a keen grasp of black liberation politics, spirituality and a very well developed sense of humor.
I often wonder if it was this sense of humor that kept him from being taken as seriously as other figures from the era. Certainly his three instrument techniques and use of sirens and whistles often were ridiculed by the press and looker on sometimes as a sideshow. But his humor was often indulgently commented upon...as if he were some sort of step n fechit character. Though humor in jazz has a long history from Pops all the way to Lester Bowie, it has always sat.uncomfortably with some observers, as if humor somehow denigrated the seriousness of the music.
For me, Kirks jokes and rants are of a piece with his, music. They make the political points he wants to make when appropriate but they also amplify the sheer joy in his playing. Kirk at his best reminds us that this music is about joy....it encompasses more than that....it reflects all experience. But in the end our music is a joyful noise and that is something to be celebrated.
Clickety clack....clickety clack. Someone bring the spirit back.....
