Rahsaan Roland Kirk with Hilton Ruiz (p), Henry Pete Pearson (b), Sonny Brown (d), Todd Barkan (perc). Playing 'Bright Moments' 'Montreux Jazz Festival', 'Casino De Montreux', Switzerland, July 18.
Let’s get one thing straight: An RRK album is all about Rahsaan. Coming right off of the otherworldly philosophical beast that was Rip Rig Panic, Rahsaan was out to prove to the world that he could sit in the groove with the best of them. He hired some ringers that were the biggest names in groove at the time, namely Lonnie Smith on keys and Grady Tate on drums, but they do almost nothing of interest on this album. Boykins on bass randomly plays with a bow for about seven seconds on the first track and is then never heard from again.
Through most of this album I was just waiting around to hear Rahsaan’s trademark sounds such as playing grunty flute ( a technique “borrowed” by Jethro Tull), playing weird whistles, and blowing multiple wind instruments at once. If you haven’t see Rahsaan before, below is an example of his usual setup. So let’s dig into some of the tracks. Blue Rol, a pretty obvious name, is a straight on blues pattern with a sampling of what you’ll hear on the rest of the track. Simple drumming, some grunts and dual saxes by Kirk. He blasts out a few huge notes to remind you that yes, he is Roland Kirk and yes, he is a master of breath control and circular breathing.
I especially like his shoutout of “Bring it down baby, lemme hear what the people outside are doing”. Grunty blues is the only way to do it. The start of Why Don’t They Know got me excited. It begins with a bizarre piccolo solo and then breaks into a cool bossa rhythm. Kirk shouts a lot which is pretty cool. “WHY DON”T THEY KNOW GODDAMMIT!!!!”. Decent track that could have been on his 1965 album, Slightly Latin.
Siveruzation (?) and Fallout both go modal. The bassline on Siv sounds like it is a little rif taken off of Davis’ So What, but it is still groovy and keeps my interest. On Fallout we see some rock and funk influence on the keys and drums which was a nice change from the rim-heavy beats heard on the earlier tracks. It ends with a cute slide whistle part that makes Kirk chuckle. Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith is the best track on the album. It was written in reference to Kirk’s wife, and it feels the most emotionally powerful even before knowing that fact.
It’s a bit barroom-ish but it’s the kind of barroom jazz that makes you want to grunt along with Rashaan. There are dramatic breaks in the tempo where he slides up a scale alongside a slow bassline, and you could just imagine him playing this in the moonlight on a bridge after a spat with his lover. Cheesy but powerful stuff.
Check the grooveshark: Edith’s final two tracks are pretty spacy, using some delayed effects on flute and some more varied drumming, but compared to his past work and work to come it is too reserved. In fact, that theme pervades this whole album. My theory is that these last three tracks represent the album that Kirk actually wanted to make, but he just discovered that too late in the process. The record is good but it is a road bump in his creativity. This was like a strange snapshot of an alternate universe that could have occurred had he not dove into more political and philosophical work.
Edith was the only album he recorded on Verve records, and I can understand why. Book-ended by Rip Rig Panic and Blacknuss (which I may review in the future), this album is completely outclassed. RRK is at his best when he is passionate and unhinged, and while a lot of these tracks are great it just makes me wish I was listening to 70s Kirk instead.
6/10 slide whistles.