Product Description
This collection presents Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing with his entire instrumental arsenal of flutes, siren, music box, whistles, manzello, stritch, clarinet, and tenor saxophones-sometimes simultaneously! Even longtime Rahsaan Roland Kirk fans will be surprised and delighted by the renditions of Milestones and The Sandpiper. One of Europe's most highly regarded and creative drummers, Daniel Humair, accompanies Kirk on two of the three concert videos and on the other, the ever-resourceful Alex Riel, of Bill Evans Trio fame, provides the fire and the swing. This collection includes two different renditions of "Three For the Festival", arguably Kirk's most spectacular performance piece. Featuring a 24 page booklet with liner notes by John Kruth, forward by Drothaan Kirk, rare photographs and memorabilia collage.
Review
Jazz Icons is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films. -- Jazz Times Magazine
Rahsaan Roland Kirk benefits most from having his music presented on DVD. Playing two or three instruments at a time, or altering between self-created horns in the middle of a solo demands seeing to be believed. It's just amazing how he could master so many instruments, and at the same time, without it appearing gimmicky. The two 63 concerts (from Belgium and Holland) find a very cool looking Kirk and band (George Gruntz/p, Guy Pedersen/b and Daniel Humair/d) crackling through bop tunes like "Milestones" adn "Bags' Groove". With right hand on manzello, and left on tenor, Kirk veers through "Lover" like there's no tomorrow. The stop-start timing on "Three For The Festival", featuring Kirk on three horns simultaneously, must be seen over and over to be believed. The 67 show in Norway includes Ron Burton/p, NHOP/b and Alex Riel/d digging deep grooves over tunes like "The Shadow Of Your Smile." His tenor work during "Blue Rol" shows that he was highly underrated at playing one instrument at a time. You'll check this one out many times over. -- JazzWeekly.com, George W. Harris, September 2008
The 1967 segment is especially fun to watch, as a frenzied Kirk wanders off mike with his manzello, bangs into the microphone with his tenor and topples his stritch stand (which he deftly catches before it falls). A cramped soundstage just couldn't contain this man. And a DVD hardly can either -- sweat and steam virtually pour from the thing. Grab it. -- MetalJazz.com, Greg Burk & Friends, October 2008
The Jazz Icons DVD features Kirk playing on three live dates in Belgium (1963), Holland (1963) and Norway (1967). Each song is a wonderful example of an honest artist robbed of sight who finds his way to a song's heart and shares its beauty along the way. Three highlights for me on this video are Milestones, Bags' Groove and The Shadow of Your Smile. -- JazzWax.com, Marc Myers, October 2008
The Jazz Icons series is onto its third set of DVDs now, and it continues to provide a wonderful opportunity for people to get to know some of the greats of the jazz world. Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Live In '64 & '68 makes a convincing argument for Kirk's inclusion in that stellar company. For sheer excitement, and jaw-dropping astonishment, there are few players alive today who can match what he accomplished during his years performing and recording. While there might still be a few purists who will dismiss him and his playing, the rest of us can just get on with enjoying his gifts and listening to some great music. -- Blog Critics Magazine, Richard Marcus, September 06, 2008
The sound quality is first rate, and the performances are extraordinary. -- Newsweek Magazine
From the Contributor
This collection presents Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing with his entire instrumental arsenal of flutes, siren, music box, whistles, manzello, stritch, clarinet, and tenor saxophones-sometimes simultaneously! Even longtime Rahsaan Roland Kirk fans will be surprised and delighted by the renditions of Milestones and The Sandpiper. One of Europe's most highly regarded and creative drummers, Daniel Humair, accompanies Kirk on two of the three concert videos and on the other, the ever-resourceful Alex Riel, of Bill Evans Trio fame, provides the fire and the swing. This collection includes two different renditions of "Three For the Festival", arguably Kirk's most spectacular performance piece. Featuring a 24 page booklet with liner notes by John Kruth, forward by Drothaan Kirk, rare photographs and memorabilia collage.
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 5.39 x 0.67 x 7.6 inches; 4.62 ounces
- Director : Various
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, Dolby, Live, NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Release date : September 30, 2008
- Actors : Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Alex Riel, Daniel Humair, Ron Burton
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
- Studio : Jazz Icons
- Number of discs : 1
