Showing posts with label Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Jaki Byard


The "J" section on my iPod takes a long time to scroll through, what with all the Johns and Joes that fill up the jazz fan's soul (does Apple have a copyright?).  And then there are the Jacki(e)s.  Keyboard genius Jaki Byard is not one to be missed.  Perhaps his most important date was with Eric Dolphy at the recording of Far Cry.  You will find it well positioned in my list of best jazz albums. 

Byard  played with the authority of someone who had mastered a lot of the music's history.  A better trained ear than mine can find volumes of jazz tradition on any Byard album, and more than one in one song.  Just now I am listening to The Jaki Byard Experience.  This album features Rolland Kirk "switching between tenor, clarinet, and manzello" (All Music).  What the Hell is a manzello?  Wikipedia saves me here.  It's a mutant soprano saxophone. Rolland Kirk rings my bells.  Richard Davis plays an exquisite and well represented bass, and Alan Dawson drums. 

The opening number, 'Parisian Thoroughfare', is an example of what one might call "traffic jazz."  As the sound of a railroad car clacking over ties inspired many a bluesman, so the sound of a busy street corner has inspired more than one jazzman.  For examples see Charlie Mingus and Arthur Blythe. 

Well, here is a sample. 
Memories of You/The Jaki Byard Experience

One can only wish that Byard and Kirk and Davis got together more often.  This one is a keeper. 



Friday, December 4, 2009

Santa's List



I blogged earlier about Rahsaan Roland Kirk's incomparable album: Rip, Rig, and Panic/Now Please Don't You Cry Dear Edith.  I also included the recording in my best 50 list.  If you don't have this thing, sit on Santa's lap.  Or buy two of them, and give one as a gift to someone very special.

Another very fine Kirk recording is Complements of the Mysterious Phantom.  It is not only a display of Kirk's virtuosity, it is also a very entertaining and enlightening document of live jazz culture.  It includes brief sections of "Rahspeak", little monologues that are not evidence of a weak personality.
I was listenin' to Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins when I was in my mother's womb.  She says every time she put Charlie Parker on the record player I was jumping up and down inside her.  My crib was a saxophone case.  Yeah. 

The folks who got to sit in on this one got their money's worth.  But don't let me mislead you: this recording is full of full steam jazz bop. Hilton Ruiz (p) Henry Pearson (b), John Goldsmith (d) Samson Verge (per).  Here is a sample:
Rahsaan Roland Kirk/My One and Only Love/Complements of the Mysterious Phantom

On a very different score, here is another stocking stuffer. Bassist Charlie Haden recorded a number of albums under the title "The Montreal Tapes."  I haven't heard recently from commenter Bass Is Life, but BIL will like this one.  It's a trio, with Al Foster on drums and Joe Henderson on tenor.  It is my view that one simply cannot have too much Joe Henderson.  The recording consists of four lengthy pieces, each of them worth a trip to Canada.  Here is a sample:
Charlie Haden, Joe Henderson, Al Foster/Round Midnight/The Montreal Tapes
These two recordings have nothing other to do with one another than that I have been enjoying them tonight.  You will enjoy them too.  Trust me on this one.  

Update:  I have been a bit behind in listening to my favorite podcast, In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond, by my good friend Ken Laster.  Tonight I was listening to Ken's November 8th show, The Masters Part 2, and what should I hear but the very Rahsaan Roland Kirk album I posted on last night.  I am not sure why, but I feel compelled to explain that this was sheer coincidence.  In fact, I only downloaded the RRK recording yesterday afternoon because it had been in my "saved list" on eMusic for a while.  The power of Kirk! 

Anyway, if you read this blog and like the music I review, and you don't listen to Ken's podcast, you are cheating yourself.  Ken's shows are gold mines of good jazz, and he is a lot of fun to listen to.  Don't miss it.