Rahsaan Roland Kirk -

Roland Kirk — aka Ronald Theodore Kirk (August 7, 1935 — December 5, 1977) — was an American multi-reedist and bandleader with a twenty-year jazz career.

Kirk debuted as a bandleader in 1956 with Triple Threat and followed with Introducing Roland Kirk (1961). He recorded several albums on Mercury, including We Free Kings (1962), Domino (1962), and Reeds & Deeds (1963). He recorded occasionally as a sideman, contributing to Quincy Jones’ arrangements and Roy Haynes’ sessions, and performed the lead flute on Jones’ 1964 hit “Soul Bossa Nova.”

In the mid-1960s, Kirk joined Atlantic Records for a run that included The Inflated Tear (1968), Volunteered Slavery (1969), and Blacknuss (1972), which combined soul jazz, hard bop, and elements of ragtime, swing, and free jazz. In 1970, Kirk affixed his name with “Rahsaan,” which came in a dream. He recorded Bright Moments (1973), a live album that captured his multi-instrumental approach, circular breathing, and simultaneous-horn techniques.

After a stroke in 1975 caused partial paralysis, Kirk adapted his instruments to continue performing, including playing two horns simultaneously at a live performance at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. He continued recording and touring until his death in 1977. His later work, including The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color, incorporated spoken commentary, environmental sounds, and tape manipulation, demonstrating his ongoing innovation and expansion of jazz composition and performance.

Background

Ronald Theodore Kirk was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1935 and became blind at age two. He studied at the Ohio State School for the Blind, where he trained on piano and wind instruments. By his mid-teens, he performed rhythm and blues on weekends with Boyd Moore’s band, touring regionally and gaining practical experience in ensemble playing, improvisation, and stagecraft. Fellow musicians recalled his ability to play two horns simultaneously even at a young age, signaling his early originality and technical skill.

Kirk developed a distinctive approach to multi-instrumental performance, mastering tenor saxophone, flute, and a variety of other wind instruments. He experimented with simultaneous-horn techniques, circular breathing, and layered harmonies, which became hallmarks of his style. During this period, he performed in local clubs and small touring ensembles, refining his repertoire and live performance skills.

He adopted the professional name Roland after transposing two letters in his given name, a decision he said was inspired by a dream. By the mid-1950s, Kirk had built a reputation for technical proficiency and inventive playing, attracting the attention of audiences and peers in the regional jazz and rhythm-and-blues circuits.

Kirk established himself as a bandleader in 1956 with the release of Triple Threat (King, 1957). This debut album presented his multi-instrumental approach and original compositions, laying the foundation for his later work as a recording artist and shaping the trajectory of his career in jazz.

Triple Threat

Roland Kirk released his debut album, Triple Threat, in July 1957 on King Records.

Triple Threat introduces Kirk’s multi-instrument approach in its earliest recorded form, with the leader moving between tenor saxophone, manzello, flute, and stritch across a program split between blues-rooted originals and standards. The trio of pianist James Madison, bassist Carl Pruitt, and drummer Henry Duncan provides an unadorned rhythm frame, keeping the settings open and the focus on Kirk’s front-line work. Two tracks — “Stormy Weather” and “The Nearness of You” — feature overdubbed manzello and tenor, while the remaining performances capture the multi-horn method in live ensemble.

“Roland’s Theme” opens with a relaxed swing feel before “Slow Groove” extends into a longer, more deliberate exploration of the three-horn voicing, Kirk working controlled harmonic combinations at a measured pace. “Stormy Weather” takes the standard into counter-melodic territory, the two overdubbed horns moving against each other rather than in unison. “The Nearness of You” proceeds more tentatively, the phrasing staggered and held back from full commitment. “Easy Living” leads on the manzello, with the multi-horn texture arriving only at the final phrase of the melody. On the uptempo side, “A La Carte” runs on a shuffle feel with most of the weight on tenor, and “Triple Threat” closes the set as a 12-bar blues in a direct, driving frame.

A1. “Roland’s Theme” (2:51) — Roland Kirk
A2. “Slow Groove” (6:52) — Roland Kirk
A3. “Stormy Weather” (4:38) — Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler
A4. “The Nearness of You” (5:34) — Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington

B1. “A La Carte” (2:22) — Roland Kirk
B2. “Easy Living” (4:40) — Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin
B3. “Triple Threat” (2:29) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded Triple Threat in New York City on November 9, 1956.

We Free Kings

Roland Kirk released his fourth album, We Free Kings, in January 1962 on Mercury.

We Free Kings draws on two rhythm section pairings across the session: pianist Hank Jones and bassist Wendell Marshall appear on tracks 1, 2, and 6–8, while pianist Richard Wyands and bassist Art Davis join for tracks 3–5 and 9. Drummer Charlie Persip remains throughout, providing a consistent rhythmic anchor across both configurations. Kirk moves among tenor saxophone, manzello, flute, and stritch, deploying the multi-horn approach in ensemble settings that balance post-bop drive with a blues-informed directness. The title track adapts the Christmas carol “We Three Kings” as a Kirk original, with the ensemble taking the familiar theme into an extended, modal treatment.

“Three for the Festival” opens on stop-start unaccompanied flute passages punctuated by brief ensemble entries before Kirk introduces the three-horn theme. “A Sack Full of Soul” moves on a walking-blues pulse at a brisk tempo, Kirk on tenor and manzello simultaneously over an energetic rhythm exchange between Wyands and Davis. “The Haunted Melody” shifts the register entirely, a slow, tremolo-laden ballad built on sustained tones and measured emotional weight. “Blues for Alice” works through Charlie Parker’s chord sequence, the quartet using the changes as a platform for an extended blues exploration with prominent rhythm section solo space. “We Free Kings” drives hardest of the originals, Kirk twisting and stretching the adapted carol theme over a firm 6/8 pulse before moving to flute. “You Did It, You Did It” features Kirk’s flute with pronounced breath and vocal sound woven into the line. “Some Kind of Love” extends past six minutes as the set’s longest track.

A1. “Three for the Festival” (3:10) — Roland Kirk
A2. “Moon Song” (4:23) — Sam Coslow, Arthur Johnston
A3. “A Sack Full of Soul” (4:40) — Roland Kirk
A4. “The Haunted Melody” (3:38) — Roland Kirk
A5. “Blues for Alice” (4:08) — Charlie Parker

B1. “We Free Kings” (4:46) — Roland Kirk
B2. “You Did It, You Did It” (2:29) — Roland Kirk
B3. “Some Kind of Love” (6:11) — Roland Kirk
B4. “My Delight” (4:28) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded We Free Kings in New York on August 16, 1961.

Domino

Roland Kirk released his fifth album, Domino, in November 1962 on Mercury.

Domino draws on two distinct rhythm section configurations across its original ten tracks. Pianist Andrew Hill, drummer Henry Duncan, and bassist Vernon Martin appear on the first six tracks, with Wynton Kelly replacing Hill and Roy Haynes replacing Duncan for the final four. Kirk’s original compositions grow denser and more involved across the set, while the cover selections range from the fast, hard-edged title track to a tender ballad reading of “I Believe in You.” Kirk moves among tenor saxophone, stritch, manzello, flute, nose flute, and siren, with celeste featured alongside Hill’s piano on “Time.” Jack Tracy produced.

“Domino” opens at breakneck tempo with Kirk’s flute framing the entrance and exit while the tenor drives the central solo. “Meeting on Termini’s Corner,” a tribute to the Five Spot club, runs on an angular, off-center rhythmic feel that tilts toward Monk’s compositional manner, with a prominent unison tenor solo rising through the multi-horn texture. “A Stritch in Time” places Kirk’s stritch and tenor in simultaneous play, the two horns at first running parallel before gradually converging toward a combined finish.

“Rolando” moves on a Latin-inflected pulse with the stritch and tenor sounding together, their tonal blend warm and sustained. Kelly and Haynes enter with “Get Out of Town,” the rhythm section pushing at a more assertive pace. “I Believe in You” proceeds as a ballad with Kirk holding the manzello in reserve until the final chorus, where its combination with the tenor arrives as an unexpected and structurally pointed arrival. Kirk’s “E.D.” closes the original program at a fast, burning tempo.

A1. “Domino” (3:16) — Don Raye, Jacques Plante, Louis Ferrari
A2. “Meeting on Termini’s Corner” (3:41) — Roland Kirk
A3. “Time” (3:13) — Richie Powell
A4. “Lament” (3:40) — J.J. Johnson
A5. “A Stritch in Time” (5:06) — Roland Kirk
A6. “3-in-1 Without the Oil” (2:35) — Roland Kirk

B1. “Get Out of Town” (4:49) — Cole Porter
B2. “Rolando” (3:47) — Roland Kirk
B3. “I Believe in You” (4:26) — Frank Loesser
B4. “E.D.” (2:36) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded Domino in New York on April 18 and September 6, 1962, with producer Jack Tracy.

I Talk With the Spirits

Roland Kirk released his ninth studio album, I Talk With the Spirits, in March 1965 on Limelight.

I Talk With the Spirits restricts Kirk entirely to flute — alto flute, amplified flute, and African wood flute in addition to the standard instrument — setting aside the saxophones, stritch, and manzello that defined his earlier records. The ensemble of vibraphonist Bobby Moses, pianist Horace Parlan (who doubles on celeste), bassist Michael Fleming, drummer Walter Perkins, and vocalist Crystal-Joy Albert provides varied textural support across a program of Kirk originals with three outside compositions. Kirk introduces humming, vocal interjections, and breath sounds directly into the flute line throughout, merging the sound of his body with the sound of the instrument. Producer Bobby Scott oversaw the sessions.

“Serenade to a Cuckoo” opens the album on a nimble, precisely shaped line, the flute moving through a bright, swinging figure with Parlan’s piano a close and responsive presence beneath. “A Quote from Clifford Brown” pushes to the upper register with a forceful, overblown attack before the medley “We’ll Be Together Again”/”People” takes a quieter path, the two standards joined and played at a restrained pace. “Trees,” the album’s longest track at six minutes, holds in a steady lower-register frame with Parlan’s piano providing an insistent, unwavering line that runs beneath Kirk’s improvisation. The brief “Fugue’n and Alludin'” appears as an unaccompanied flute solo.

“The Business Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues” builds from the opening theme into an extended two-note alternating passage with Kirk’s humming and breath increasingly audible through the instrument. The title track moves at a slow pace before multiple flute lines arrive simultaneously in a brief climactic passage. “Ruined Castles,” by Japanese composer Rentarō Taki, is accompanied only by music box. “Django” works through John Lewis’s composition with a relaxed, assured feel, and “My Ship” closes the album with a long, wide-ranging arc that moves from calm to a driven double-time stretch before returning to the opening pace.

A1. “Serenade to a Cuckoo” (4:33) — Roland Kirk
A2. Medley: “We’ll Be Together Again” / “People” (4:40) — Carl Fisher, Frankie Laine / Bob Merrill, Jule Styne
A3. “A Quote from Clifford Brown” (4:24) — Roland Kirk
A4. “Trees” (6:20) — Joyce Kilmer, Oscar Rasbach
A5. “Fugue’n and Alludin'” (0:44) — Roland Kirk

B1. “The Business Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues” (5:03) — Roland Kirk
B2. “I Talk With the Spirits” (3:56) — Roland Kirk
B3. “Ruined Castles” (1:20) — Rentarō Taki
B4. “Django” (4:50) — John Lewis
B5. “My Ship” (5:00) — Ira Gershwin, Kurt Weill

Kirk recorded I Talk With the Spirits at Nola’s Penthouse Sound Studios in New York City on September 16–17, 1964, with producer Bobby Scott.

Rip, Rig and Panic

The Roland Kirk Quartet tenth album, Rip, Rig and Panic, in December 1965 on Limelight.

Rip, Rig and Panic places Kirk with pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Elvin Jones for a single session at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio. Five of the seven tracks are Kirk originals. Jones drives with percussive insistence across the full set, his patterns dense and rhythmically unpredictable, and Byard shifts harmonic levels in direct response to Kirk’s intensity throughout. Davis anchors the low end with force and precision. Kirk moves among tenor saxophone, stritch, manzello, flute, siren, oboe, and castanets, and the album progresses from structured post-bop toward freer, more openly exploratory territory as it develops. Producer Jack Tracy oversaw the session.

“No Tonic Pres,” a tribute to Lester Young, opens on a non-linear modal frame with Jones working through the knotted rhythmic material with agility. “Once in a While” moves at a slow, measured pace before a rhythm shift opens into a double-time stretch with Kirk taking a two-horn line. “From Bechet, Byas, and Fats” runs over six minutes — the set’s longest track — with Kirk using the manzello to approximate soprano saxophone before shifting to tenor and quoting from the Don Byas book while Byard and Davis turn around a blues motif and Jones doubles the pace with rim shots.

“Mystical Dream” is the set’s briefest piece, a short, internally focused passage. The title track pushes hardest into open territory, Jones and Davis working the patterns around Byard, who shifts harmonic reference in response to Kirk’s escalating intensity. “Black Diamond” follows with a blues-based framework, and the set closes on “Slippery, Hippery, Flippery,” where Jones opens with a sprawling kit statement, Byard moves up and down across the keyboard in an unsettled exchange, and Kirk introduces siren sounds before the tenor emerges for an extended post-bop passage that plays out over studio distortion and electronic noise.

A1. “No Tonic Pres” (4:34) — Roland Kirk
A2. “Once in a While” (4:02) — Michael Edwards, Bud Green
A3. “From Bechet, Byas, and Fats” (6:31) — Roland Kirk
A4. “Mystical Dream” (2:39) — Roland Kirk

B1. “Rip, Rig & Panic” (7:00) — Roland Kirk
B2. “Black Diamond” (5:23) — Milt Sealey
B3. “Slippery, Hippery, Flippery” (4:56) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded Rip, Rig and Panic at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on January 13, 1965, with producer Jack Tracy.

The Inflated Tear

Roland Kirk released his thirteenth album, The Inflated Tear, on June 14, 1968, on Atlantic.

The Inflated Tear presents Kirk in quartet — with pianist Rahn Burton, bassist Steve Novosel, and drummer Jimmy Hopps — working through a program of Kirk originals with a single Ellington cover. The set holds to an introspective, blues-grounded register throughout, with Kirk drawing on tenor saxophone, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, whistle, cor anglais, and flexatone. Burton, Novosel, and Hopps function as a closely integrated unit, their ensemble work providing both harmonic foundation and rhythmic contrast against Kirk’s lead. Trombonist Dick Griffin joins on “Fly by Night.” Joel Dorn produced.

“The Black and Crazy Blues” opens at a measured, funeral-march pace with Kirk and Burton moving in a bittersweet exchange before Kirk switches to multiple horns — the woodwinds sounding together as a single sustained entity, rising and receding in unison. “A Laugh for Rory” shifts sharply in tempo and tone, a bright, fast flute piece where Kirk’s breath and humming merge audibly with the instrument’s sound in the solo passage. “Many Blessings” demonstrates Kirk’s legato and staccato command across a long solo arc that accelerates from a swinging, melodic opening through machine-gun runs before pulling back to give way to Burton.

“Fingers in the Wind” returns to flute in a ballad setting, the contrast between Kirk’s light, airborne line and the bowed bass and classically inflected piano producing the track’s defining texture. The title track opens side two with a flexatone-centered semi-silence before the multi-horn ensemble erupts in dissonant fanfare, the woodwinds swelling and contracting over a tense rhythmic backdrop; Kirk’s voice enters briefly before the piece shatters the surrounding calm with a final screaming push. “Creole Love Call” gives the Ellington composition a jaunty, two-horn treatment with Burton carrying a punchy supporting line beneath. “A Handful of Fives” runs in 5/8, Hopps driving the asymmetric pulse forward at a brisk pace. “Fly by Night” moves on a mid-tempo with Griffin’s trombone alongside Kirk’s lead vocal, and “Lovellevelliloqui” closes with Kirk working through exploratory bop before halving the tempo and accelerating into a flutter-tongued fanfare that ends the album in full energy.

A1. “The Black and Crazy Blues” (6:07) — Roland Kirk
A2. “A Laugh for Rory” (2:54) — Roland Kirk
A3. “Many Blessings” (4:45) — Roland Kirk
A4. “Fingers in the Wind” (4:18) — Roland Kirk

B1. “The Inflated Tear” (4:58) — Roland Kirk
B2. “Creole Love Call” (3:53) — Duke Ellington
B3. “A Handful of Fives” (2:42) — Roland Kirk
B4. “Fly by Night” (4:19) — Roland Kirk
B5. “Lovellevelliloqui” (4:17) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded The Inflated Tear at Webster Hall in New York City between November 27 and 30, 1967, with producer Joel Dorn.

Volunteered Slavery

Roland Kirk released his fifteenth album, Volunteered Slavery, in October 1969 on Atlantic.

Volunteered Slavery combines studio recordings from July 1969 with a live set from the Newport Jazz Festival recorded in July 1968, the two sessions separated on the original LP into distinct sides. The studio half features the Roland Kirk Spirit Choir behind Kirk on several tracks alongside trumpeter Charles McGhee, trombonist Dick Griffin, pianist Ron Burton, bassist Vernon Martin, and drummers Sonny Brown and Charles Crosby. The live Newport half draws on a quintet of Burton, Martin, drummer Jimmy Hopps, and percussionist Joseph “Habao” Texidor, with Kirk working across tenor saxophone, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, nose flute, whistle, voice, and Stylophone. Joel Dorn produced.

The studio title track opens with a low, insistent bass figure and chanted vocal ensemble before Kirk’s saxophone enters, the choir weaving call-and-response passages beneath. “Spirits Up Above” stays in a gospel-adjacent frame with the choir prominent. “My Cherie Amour” opens close to Stevie Wonder’s original arrangement before Kirk’s improvisation begins to pull at the structure; “I Say a Little Prayer” does similarly but extends further into open, chaotic stretches with Griffin’s trombone contributing its own disruptive presence. The Newport live material opens with “Roland’s Opening Remarks” before “One Ton” establishes a working-group intensity. “A Tribute to John Coltrane” runs over eight minutes, Kirk moving through “Lush Life,” “Afro-Blue,” and “Bessie’s Blues” in sequence, shifting between a hard bop frame and a Tyner-influenced modal approach as the medley develops. “Three for the Festival” closes the live set with Kirk performing simultaneously on multiple instruments before turning to flute with audible singing merged into the line, culminating in a passage where the melody shifts into “We Shall Overcome.”

A1. “Volunteered Slavery” (5:43) — Roland Kirk
A2. “Spirits Up Above” (3:37) — Roland Kirk
A3. “My Cherie Amour” (3:20) — Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder
A4. “Search for the Reason Why” (2:07) — Roland Kirk
A5. “I Say a Little Prayer” (7:59) — Burt Bacharach, Hal David

B1. “Roland’s Opening Remarks” (0:41) — Roland Kirk
B2. “One Ton” (5:02) — Roland Kirk
B3. “Ovation and Roland’s Remarks” (1:42) — Roland Kirk
B4. “A Tribute to John Coltrane: Lush Life / Afro-Blue / Bessie’s Blues” (8:14) — Billy Strayhorn / Mongo Santamaría / John Coltrane
B5. “Three for the Festival” (4:23) — Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded the studio tracks at Regent Sound Studios in New York City on July 22–23, 1969. The live tracks were recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 7, 1968. Joel Dorn produced.

Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle

Roland Rahsaan Kirk released his nineteenth album, Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle, in August 1973 on Atlantic.

Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle is built around four extended pieces — three in the five-to-ten-minute range and a closing 21-minute concerto — with a large ensemble that includes trumpeter Charles McGhee, trombonist Dick Griffin, oboist Harry Smiles, a six-piece string section (Sanford Allen, Julien Barber, Selwart Clarke, Gayle Dixon on violin; Al Brown on viola; Kermit Moore on cello), pianist Ron Burton, bassist Henry Mattathias Pearson, drummers Robert Shy and Sonny Brown, percussionist Ralph MacDonald, and vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jeanne Lee. Kirk draws on tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute, nose flute, alto saxophone, and what the album identifies as “black mystery pipes.” Joel Dorn produced.

“Salvation and Reminiscing” opens with Kirk on clarinet, the vocalists echoing his minor-key phrases in close, haunting imitation before a string section enters and propels the piece into a more agitated, cinema-scaled passage that resolves in a final calm. “Seasons: One Mind Winter/Summer/Ninth Ghost” begins as a duet between nose flute and finger cymbals before Kirk shifts to standard flute over a slow, gently undulating accompaniment — Pearson’s bass figures prominent in the lower register — with Kirk’s breath and vocal sounds intensifying gradually as the improvisation develops across nine minutes.

“Celestial Blues” strips the ensemble back to Kirk on “black mystery pipes” with only percussion behind him, the piece moving on a loose, open pulse. The closing “Saxophone Concerto,” structured in movements, opens with a stated intention — voiced by Kirk — before the full ensemble enters: the band moves through bebop passages, hard bop figures, Latin chromatics, and free sections in sequence; vocalists Lee and Bridgewater weave through the improvising horns in the later movements; the pace builds and collapses repeatedly until the piece dissolves into a near-silence of drones, percussion, and unidentifiable sounds including breaking glass.

A1. “Salvation and Reminiscing” (5:22) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A2. “Seasons: One Mind Winter/Summer/Ninth Ghost” (9:37) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A3. “Celestial Blues” (5:40) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

B1. “Saxophone Concerto: Saxophone Miracle / One Breath Beyond / Dance of Revolution” (21:00) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle at Regent Sound Studios in New York City on January 22, 1973, with producer Joel Dorn.

Bright Moments (2LP live)

In January 1974, Roland Rahsaan Kirk released Bright Moments, a live double-album on Atlantic.

Bright Moments documents two nights at Keystone Korner in San Francisco with a working quintet of pianist Ron Burton, synthesizer and tambourine player Todd Barkan, bassist Henry Mattathias Pearson, drummer Robert Shy, and percussionist Joe “Habao” Texidor. The album includes spoken introductions and between-song remarks from Kirk woven throughout, with the music interspersed by direct audience address, explanations of technique, and passages of jazz history. Kirk draws on tenor saxophone, manzello, stritch, clarinet, flute, nose flute, and miscellaneous instruments across a program that spans Kirk originals, Ellington, Fats Waller, Burt Bacharach, and a Rodgers and Hammerstein ballad. Joel Dorn produced.

“Pedal Up” opens the set with Kirk moving among multiple horns simultaneously — extended unaccompanied passages where the three-horn simultaneous technique is most directly on display, the two sounding horns running independent lines over the rhythm section’s foundation. “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)” takes Bacharach’s tune through an extended treatment that stretches the original harmonic structure into Kirk’s personal framework.

“Fly Town Nose Blues” centers on the nose flute, the instrument carrying the melodic lead across an eight-minute performance. “Prelude to a Kiss” appears as a duo between Kirk and Burton. The title track features Kirk’s flute with his singing voice worked directly through the instrument. “Dem Red Beans and Rice” establishes a New Orleans second-line feel, Kirk’s original moving on a stomping, exultant pulse. “If I Loved You” gives the Rodgers and Hammerstein ballad an extended slow-burn treatment, Kirk’s raw, wide-open tone carrying the melody with no buffer from more refined approaches. “Jitterbug Waltz” closes the set in a measured, respectful reading of Fats Waller’s composition.

A1. Introduction (2:06)
A2. “Pedal Up” (11:52) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A3. “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)” (9:48) — Burt Bacharach, Hal David

B1. “Clickety Clack” (2:30) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B2. “Prelude to a Kiss” (5:05) — Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills
B3. “Talk (Electric Nose)” (2:33) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B4. “Fly Town Nose Blues” (8:52) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

C1. “Talk (Bright Moments)” (3:30) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C2. “Bright Moments” (10:02) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C3. “Dem Red Beans and Rice” (7:05) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

D1. “If I Loved You” (8:50) — Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers
D2. “Talk (Fats Waller)” (1:30) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
D3. “Jitterbug Waltz” (7:00) — Richard Maltby Jr., Fats Waller D4. “Second Line Jump” (1:30) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded Bright Moments at Keystone Korner in San Francisco, California, on June 8–9, 1973, with producer Joel Dorn.

The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color

Roland Rahsaan Kirk his twentieth studio album, The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color, in June 1975 on Atlantic.

The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color was issued as a double LP with three program sides and one intentionally blank side — though the blank side carried a hidden track, released as the final track on the CD reissue. The ensemble includes Pat Patrick on baritone saxophone, keyboardists Hilton Ruiz and Richard Tee, keyboardist and co-arranger Arthur Jenkins, guitarists Cornell Dupree, Keith Loving, and Hugh McCracken, bassists Francisco Centeno, Henry Pearson, and Bill Salter, drummers Sonny Brown, Steve Gadd, and John Goldsmith, and percussionists Lawrence Killian and Ralph MacDonald. Arrangements are credited to Kirk and William Eaton. The three program sides share material — “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “The Entertainer,” “Freaks for the Festival,” and “Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies” each appear in two distinct versions across the three sides — separated and introduced by short spoken “Dream” passages recorded on tape. Joel Dorn produced.

“Bye Bye Blackbird” receives a reading that moves through stylistic imitation, Kirk shifting his approach between Miles Davis’s phrasing and Coltrane’s modal attack over the familiar harmonic structure. “High Heel Sneakers” runs as a hard, outward blues with the soul-jazz rhythm section pushing at full force. “Echoes of Primitive Ohio and Chili Dogs” extends close to seven minutes with Ruiz’s keyboard work prominent in the mid-section. “The Entertainer” takes the Joplin rag through a New Orleans- and Delta-blues reinterpretation, Eaton’s arrangement steering the piece far from its original parlor context. “Freaks for the Festival” and “Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies” appear on each of the three program sides in versions that differ in tempo, arrangement detail, and solo development, the repetition structured as a deliberate palindromic device. The “Dream” tape interludes function as brief spoken connective passages between the musical pieces. The hidden fourth-side track appears on the CD reissue as “Side Four.”

A1. “Conversation” (0:59) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A2. “Bye Bye Blackbird” (2:43) — Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson
A3. “Horses (Monogram/Republic)” (0:18) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A4. “High Heel Sneakers” (4:50) — Robert Higginbotham
A5. “Dream” (0:53) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A6. “Echoes of Primitive Ohio and Chili Dogs” (6:55) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A7. “The Entertainer (Done in the Style of the Blues)” (6:02) — William Eaton, Scott Joplin

B1. “Freaks for the Festival” (4:01) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B2. “Dream” (1:28) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B3. “Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies” (6:24) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B4. “Dream” (0:59) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk B5. “The Entertainer” (6:17) — William Eaton, Scott Joplin

C1. “Dream” (1:05) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C2. “Portrait of Those Beautiful Ladies” (7:56) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C3. “Dream” (0:52) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C4. “Freaks for the Festival” (5:34) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C5. “Sesroh” (0:24) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk
C6. “Bye Bye Blackbird” (2:37) — Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson
C7. “Conversation” (0:57) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

(hidden):
D1. “Side Four” (12:41) — Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Kirk recorded The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color at Regent Sound Studios in New York City on May 14, 1975, with producer Joel Dorn.

Discography: