Introducing Roland Kirk
1. The Call
2. Soul Station
3. Our Waltz
4. Our Love is Here to Stay
5. Spirit Girl
6. Jack the Ripper
Roland Kirk – Tenor sax, manzello, stritch
Ira Sullivan – Trumpet, tenor sax
William Burton – Piano
Don Garrett – Bass
Sonny Brown – Drums
Kirk’s Work
7. Three for Dizzy
8. Makin’ Whoopee
9. Funk Underneath
10. Kirk’s Work
11. Doin’ the Sixty-Eight
12. Too Late Now
13. Skater’s Waltz
Roland Kirk – Tenor sax, manzello, stritch, flute, siren
Jack McDuff – Hammond organ
Joe Benjamin – Bass
Arthur Taylor - Drums
We Free Kings
1. Three for the Festival
2. Moon Song
3. A Sack Full of Soul
4. The Haunted Melody
5. Blues for Alice
6. We Free Kings
7. You Did It, You Did It
8. Some Kind of Love
9. My Delight
Roland Kirk - Tenor sax, stritch, manzello, flute, siren
Hank Jones - Piano (tracks 1, 2, 6-8)
Wendell Marshall - Bass (tracks 1, 2, 6-8)
Richard Wyands - Piano (tracks 3-5, 9)
Art Davis - Bass (tracks 3-5, 9)
Charlie Persip – Drums
Domino
10. Domino
11. Meeting on Termini's Corner
12. Time
13. Lament
14. A Stritch In Time
15. 3-in-1 Without the Oil
16. Get Out of Town
17. Rolando
18. I Believe in You
19. E.D
Roland Kirk - Tenor sax, stritch, manzello, flute, siren
Andrew Hill - Piano, celeste (tracks 10-15)
Vernon Martin - Bass
Henry Duncan – Drums (tracks 10-15)
Wynton Kelly - Piano (tracks 16-19)
Roy Haynes
- Drums (tracks 16-19)
I have already reviewed for MusicWeb International the last three of the four LPs on this double album, but it is worth recommending the compilation for
its bargain price of £6.99 and its excellent sound quality. It also gives you what looks like (judging from its title, Introducing Roland Kirk)
Roland’s first LP – from 1960, even though he had actually recorded Triple Threat for a small label four years earlier.
Introducing Roland Kirk
teams him up with Ira Sullivan, a musician experienced in bebop as well as more mainstream styles. Sullivan plays the trumpet as well as the tenor sax.
Right from the start, you can hear an astonishing new jazz voice, as Kirk plays several instruments at once, generating his own unique harmony. He switches
easily from one instrument to two or three, conjuring up a remarkable range of sounds.
The ‘Introducing’ album doesn’t contain any of Roland’s flute-playing but there is plenty on the three other LPs. He brought a new way of playing
to the flute: using trills, screeches, growls and even humming. The later LPs also illustrate Kirk’s humour (note the quotations from the folk-song This Old Man in Lament) and his wide range of material – from Waldteufel’s Skater’s Waltz to a Christmas carol which is
reinvented as We Free Kings.
With 146 minutes of peerless music on two discs,
this compilation is highly recommended.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Avid AMSC 1111
