Rahsaan Roland Kirk

[ccroft]

I just read Lee Morgan's bio DelightfuLee. He was part of the protest group w Kirk. It was called Jazz and the People’s Movement. They marched in parades playing whistles, flutes, etc and showed up each week at talk shows starting w Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, then the The Tonight Show w paid for tickets and drowned out the house bands led by Kirk who smuggled a clarinet in...

I remember hearing about the movement. I wonder... could one of these events have been televised? Maybe that's what I saw. I remember it wasn't a typical performance. Some shows were live into the 70's.

Thanks for the background Winter!

[sgcim]

Jazz desperately needs guys like Roland Kirk, Dizzy Gillespie, Mingus and Clark Terry today. TODAY,
people want someone who makes them feel like they're 'part of the 'show'.
Musicians don't give a crap about stuff like that, but the younger audience has changed (or maybe it was always like that, and has just gotten worse). To them, it's show biz; they hear with their eyes.

[A. Kingstone]

Jazz desperately needs guys like Roland Kirk, Dizzy Gillespie, Mingus and Clark Terry today. TODAY,
people want someone who makes them feel like they're 'part of the 'show'.
Musicians don't give a crap about stuff like that, but the younger audience has changed (or maybe it was always like that, and has just gotten worse). To them, it's show biz; they hear with their eyes.

I still laugh at Mumbles.

[sgcim]

I still laugh at Mumbles.

I did a jazz concert with him once, and he had the people in the palm of his hand.He even made me feel great by sayin', "Yeah, baby!" and "I hear ya!" after every phrase I played. My friends came up to me, and said, "Wow, CT really dug you!" I was still in shock and didn't say anything.

[A. Kingstone]

I did a jazz concert with him once, and he had the people in the palm of his hand.He even made me feel great by sayin', "Yeah, baby!" and "I hear ya!" after every phrase I played. My friends came up to me, and said, "Wow, CT really dug you!" I was still in shock and didn't say anything.

That's beautiful.

[pamosmusic]

I still laugh at Mumbles.

Clark is the bomb

[dot75]

I was at a Keith Jarrett concert once, there was a problem with the sound & Jarrett apologised & said did anybody want to ask anything while they fixed it, someone asked the horn player (can't remember who it was) about his circular breathing technique & didn't get a satisfactory answer, asked again & the horn player told of asking the same question to a group of young boys learning to play the rakdung in a monastery in Tibet - I think they were on a State Dept funded tour.

The question was translated a number of ways without success until the translater just said 'The monks beat them until they learn to do it'

[dot75]

^ Dewey Redman - I think...

[Irishmuso]

We used to play Serenade to a Cuckoo but w out the nose flute, not sure why we stopped, it's almost a jazz standard at this point.

Thanks for putting this up. I hadn't heard it before and I think it's great. Gonna learn it.

[wintermoon]

Thanks for putting this up. I hadn't heard it before and I think it's great. Gonna learn it.

No problem, easy enough tune but I'm pretty sure it's in one of those fake real books, or real fake books

[AllanAllen]

No problem, easy enough tune but I'm pretty sure it's in one of those fake real books, or real fake books

It's not in the Hal Lenord real books. If you google "Serenede to a cuckoo lead sheet" something close comes up. But, but the bridge melody is wrong. The actual bridge follows the 5th of each chord, easy enough.

Edit: Nevermind, I must've had a brain fart comparing it. It's notated as Db over the Gm7b5. Not sure why I read it as Ab.

I should also thank you, I learned it last night and told my band we were going to start playing it.

[wintermoon]

I just googled it and "song by Jethro Tull" popped up.
I think RRK lost to Herbie Mann in the downbeat flute polls for many consecutive yrs.
No wonder these guys turned to drugs.....

[Mick-7]

easy enough tune but I'm pretty sure it's in one of those fake real books, or real fake books

Yes, Real Book 1, entry #377.

"I think RRK lost to Herbie Mann in the downbeat flute polls for many consecutive yrs"

Popularity won you more points than musicianship did in the Downbeat polls. Herbie was mainstream popular in the 70's (his album "Memphis Underground" was played on rock stations) and he only played flute.

My favorite Downbeat column was the blindfold test, where they'd play a few record tracks for well known jazz artists and they'd comment on them (they would not tell them beforehand what they would be hearing), these reviews could be very enlightening. And I was often impressed by how unpretentious they were, e.g., they played a track from Tommy by the Who for Elvin Jones and he said he thought Keith Moon was a talented drummer.

[AllanAllen]

[wintermoon]

It was the 8th anniversary of The Tonight Show which aired on October 1, 1970. Mr.Kirk and other jazz musicians formed the protest group “Jazz and the People’s Movement.” They formed to get African American musicians on mainstream U.S. television. They played/protested on a few shows:

1. The Mirv Griffin Show on August 27,1970

2. The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on October 01, 1970

3. The Dick Cavett Show on October 13, 1970

4. The Ed Sullivan Show on January 24, 1971

Ed Sullivan’s crew found out that the JPM were going to interrupt their show, so they invited them on to play instead. Charles Mingus and a few others joined Kirk for this date. The results can be seen on Post# 09 above. There used to be a video of the Tonight Show performance on YouTube, but it has been taken down.

***I found this information on the web page Johnny Carson/Just SOul You Know***

mentioned in post 25 but not the exact dates

[Bop Head]