RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK
Genres: Hard Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Vocal Jazz • United States

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936-1977) was a blind American jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once. Kirk was born Ronald Kirk on 7th August 1936, in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. After another dream in about 1970 he added Rahsaan to his name. 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. Kirk also regularly explored classical and pop music. Kirk played and collected a vast number of musical instruments, mainly various saxophones, clarinets, and flutes. His main instruments were tenor saxophone, and two obscure saxophones: the manzello (similar to a soprano sax) and the stritch (a straight alto read more...