Kirkatron

About

Assembled in the wake of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s debilitating stroke, <i>Kirkatron</i> combines recordings from the saxophonist’s 1975 appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival with stray tracks recorded with producer Joel Dorn in New York City in 1975 and 1976. By default, this easygoing album functions as a pause point and minor retrospective of Kirk’s career up to that time. This might be the definitive version of “Serenade to a Cuckoo,” the flute workout that propelled Kirk to stardom in the mid-'60s. Likewise, “Bright Moments” previously appeared on the definitive live album of the same name, and it's symbolic of the creative winning streak Kirk was on in the early '70s. Dorn later recounted the story of how Kirk called for this version of “A Night in Tunisia” at the last second, forcing the crack R&B group behind him to rely solely on their instincts. The result is a supremely funky interpretation of the jazz standard. The other choices are typically atypical (see “A Christmas Song”), but the best curveball is “Bagpipe Medley”— particularly appropriate in light of jazz piper Rufus Harley’s awestruck remark that Kirk’s lungs functioned as a “human bagpipe.”

via Apple Music

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