Of the 60s and 70s giants of jazz, there were probably none that I saw perform live more times than Rahsaan Roland Kirk (with the probable exception of Sun Ra). The man always put on a mesmerizing, jaw-dropping show, and I was never once disappointed.
Listen to his cover of the old Rodgers and Hammerstein song If I Loved You (from the play Carousel). Not only does he rescue it from the campy trappings of show tunes, but he resurrects it into a positively heartfelt soul ballad. But to grasp the sheer audacity of this performance, try singing or humming along with his saxophone lines - the man does not pause for breath. No breaks, no stops, just continuous hot-and-cold running streams of music.
It's hard to imagine how this is even humanly possible until you've see him perform live and witness for yourself how circular breathing works - he breathes in through his nose while simultaneously breathing out off his mouth. Just try it yourself for a moment on a line or two, and then imagine not only doing it for an 8-minute-plus song, but for an intense and soulful eight minutes. In other words, it's not just technique that made Rahsaan stand out, it was content, too.
Rahsaan passed away in 1977 at the heartbreakingly young age of 42. He still had so much more to continue, and we lost a unique American treasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment