Rahsaan Roland Kirk was known simply as Roland Kirk back in November 1963, when an unknown filmmaker recorded these live dates at the Village Gate in New York City. The documentary was never made, and the tapes sat in storage until recently. Modern technology has restored the recordings to sound big, bright, and clean. Just check out Kirk‘s solo intro to the jazz standard “Laura”; one can “hear” the silences between each note. In other tracks, one can sense the excitement on stage and in the crowd because of the background clatter.
Kirk is joined here by a talented band of players, including a rhythm section of Henry Grimes on bass and Sonny Brown on drums, and three pianists (Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne, and Jane Getz) who rotated across the two-night sessions. Kirk is obviously large and in charge. He blows tenor saxophone, stritch (a modified soprano saxophone that sounds like an alto), manzello (a modified version of a saxello), flute, and assorted whistles, frequently at the same time. For those unfamiliar with Kirk’s work, that was no schtick but a technical innovation that enabled him to sustain notes and create wondrous sonic effects through circular breathing.
By these 1963 dates, Rahsaan Roland Kirk had already released at least six full-length albums and was well known in the jazz world. He had an idiosyncratic style that fused hard bop with more melodic elements from gospel, blues, and pop. Although Kirk was blind, he had a theatrical stage presence. He was a showman who would break out into extended solos (Check out his takes on the 15-plus-minute “Jump Up and Down – Fast”). The audience are receptive and alert, and various individuals are not always quiet. The atmosphere is hip and knowing. One can sense the cigarette smoke and cocktails that fill the room.
The nine song selections range from Broadway pop standards such as Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “Falling in Love with Love” and Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are” to original compositions like the swinging “Blues Minor at the Gate” and “Kirk’s Delight”. All the tracks rely on improvisation. The songs take off on the wings of Kirk’s imagination. There are times when it seems that the side players are missing as the bandleader plunges ahead, but they always come back in ready to jam. That’s especially true of drummer Sammy Brown, who provides a solid foundation for Kirk’s musical wanderings.
These performances on 26-27 November 1963 at the Village Gate capture America at an extraordinary time. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas less than a week before. Newspapers, radio, and television were saturated with coverage of the tragedy. Jack Ruby shockingly killed Lee Harvey Oswald live on broadcast TV on November 24. Kirk was a Civil Rights activist whose political views were known.
While the reissue doesn’t capture everything that happened during those two nights, there is no mention of JFK’s death or its immediate aftermath on this release. Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate presents a cosmopolitan audience out for a good time on a Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Big Apple as if nothing had changed. That fact is revealing in and of itself. What it says can be heard in the breadth and breath of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and his band jamming, and the crowd’s response. Indeed, the answer is blown in the wind.