Jersey History: Rahsaan Roland Kirk
He lived in East Orange for many years but died on the road in Indiana from a stroke at the age of 42. Rahsaan was one-of-a-kind. Ian Anderson formed Jethro Tull after hearing him play flute and covered him on their debut. It is said that Jimi Hendrix idolized him. Frank Zappa was heavily influenced by him, citing him by name in the liner notes to his 1966 debut. Derek Trucks of the Allman Brothers said, “he blew the rules wide open.” Paul Weller of British punk-rockers The Jam told the London Times that Rahsaan’s 1964 I Talk With The Spirits was one of his “most influential albums.” Bjork says the same about his 1968 The Inflated Tear. There’s two tracks on the 1970 Eric Burdon and War debut in tribute to him.
In his short life, he recorded 31 albums. To see him in concert was to have your mind totally blown as he’d play the flute through his nose, oftentimes playing three saxophones in his mouth at the same time. He was funny. He was provocative. He was political. And his 1975 album, The Case Of The 3-Sided Dream in Audio Color, changed my life. At 24, I had never ever heard anything even remotely close. I was a rock’n’roll guy. Here comes this crazy jazz album, a double-album with one of its four sides completely silent, that had the 1926 chestnut “Bye Bye Blackbird” done like nobody else ever. (Us rock fans, of course, knew it by Joe Cocker.) It also had what can only be described as an outer-space version of the blues song “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” a song that everyone from Elvis to McCartney covered. But not like this! Rahsaan also transmogrified Scott Joplin’s 1902 ragtime classic “The Entertainer” into a futuristic funhouse.
He was born in 1935 Ohio, went blind shortly thereafter, yet was on the road with blues bands at 14. Jay Leno got to see him up close as an opening-act comedian who he’d introduce by saying, “here’s a young brother who knows the black experience and knows all about the white devils.” He has his first stroke in 1975 at 40. It led to one side of his body being paralyzed but he continued to perform and record. His second stroke killed him. (Please note that’s Charles Mingus on bass in the video!)