Roland Kirk "Kirk's Work" 1977 - The EmArcy Jazz Series

Born Roland Kirk in 1936; died in 1977; married wife, Edith; children: Rory Stritch Kirk. Education: Attended the Ohio State School for the Blind. Jazz instrumentalist. Joined Boyd Moore Band at age 15, Columbus, OH; played briefly with a rhythm and blues band in Texas; began recording in Chicago, c. 1960-62; played with Charles Mingus, New York City, c. 1962; played at Newport Jazz Festival, 1969. Invented the rokon whistle.
When Rahsaan Roland Kirk stood before an audience in the 1960s and seventies he resembled a fantastic, surreal, one-man band. A stritch--an instrument resembling a dented blunderbuss--hung well below his knees and a quasi saxophone called a manzello was usually wrapped around his neck at the ready. A tenor saxophone with a flute conveniently placed in the bell added to the picture. Also hanging from Kirk's neck was an arsenal of homemade instruments: a foot-long siren whistle held together with globs of tape, a song flute shortened so that it appeared to be a fat, black cigar--which he played with his nose--and a rectangular humming cube dubbed The Evil Box. Kirk played all three horns simultaneously, looking very much like a kid trying to eat three bananas at once. Making this weird spectacle all the more impressive was that Kirk was also blind. - by B. Kimberly Taylor

Personnel:
Bass – Art Davis, Eddie Mathias, Michael Fleming, Abdullah Rafik, Richard Davis, Vernon Martin, Wendell Marshall / Celesta – Horace Parlan / Congas – Montego Joe / Drums – Charlie Persip, Elvin Jones, Henry Duncan, Roy Haynes, Sonny Brown), Walter Perkins / Flugelhorn – Martin Bank / Flute – Roland Kirk / Oboe – Roland Kirk / Percussion – Manuel Ramos / Piano – Andrew Hill, Hank Jones, Harold Mabern, Horace Parlan, Jaki Byard, Richard Wyands, Wynton Kelly (Titel / Saxophone [Manzello] – Roland Kirk / Saxophone [Strich] – Roland Kirk / Siren – Roland Kirk / Tenor Saxophone – Roland Kirk / Trombone – Dick Griffin, Garnett Brown , Thomas McIntosh / Trumpet – Charles McGhee, Virgil Jones / Vibraphone – Bobby Moses / Vocals – C.J. Albert

trax:
1 Meeting On Termini's Corner 2 Between The Fourth And The Fifth Step 3 Song Of The Countrymen 4 Raouf 5 No Tonic Pres 6 From Bechet, Pyas And Fats 7 Rip, Rig And Panic 8 Slippery, Hippery, Flippery 9 Three For The Festival 10 Reeds And Deeds 11 Ebrauqs 12 I Talk With The Spirits 13 Domino 14 The Haunted Melody 15 Where Monk And Mingus Live / Let's Call This 16 Get Out Of Town 17 Black Diamond
Ripped from Vinyl by RYP with Audacity 3.2.1 - Thorens TD 318/Audio-Technica 95E / Yamaha A-S301