Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977) was a blind jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once.

Kirk was born Ronald Kirk, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. After another dream about 1970 he added Rahsaan to his name.

Kirk played and collected a vast number of musical instruments, mainly various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. He also played harmonica, english horn, recorders and was a capable trumpeter.

His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw convincingly on any element of the music's history, from ragtime to Swing and free jazz.

He was also a proponent of circular breathing and was reportedly able to sustain a note for over an hour. He played many instruments, and also employed several novel and influential techniques as a flautist. One technique which he developed was to sing or hum into the flute at the same time as playing. (This technique was adopted later by Jeremy Steig and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull - compare the Kirk tune Serenade to a Cuckoo on their first album.)

Kirk preferred to lead his own groups, and rarely performed as a sideman, though he did record with arranger Quincy Jones and had especially notable stints with double bassist Charles Mingus.

External links

• Discography
• NY daily news Stopping the white wash - Rahsaan Roland Kirk on TV

Biography

• Kruth, John: Bright Moments. The Life and Legacy of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Welcome Rain Publishers, New York 2000 ISBN 1-56649-105-3