Rahsaan Roland KIRK - Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle 1973

Rahsaan Roland KIRK - Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle 1973
SD-1640
Recorded at Regent Sound Studios, New York on January 22, 1973

Jazz

Roland was a true inivator. With all the cheesy stuff aside, he was a serious black muscians supporter. Which makes me wonder why I never hear him mention on black history month. I am not black and won't pretend to know all thier is know about black culture, but I will say Roland did more for black history, than 2pac ever did. Roland play a 21 minute saxaphone solo without breathing. This man had heart. It's a shame he wasnt' bigger we would be a different musical world. He was brilliant, I have much respect for him and mainly his music. I wish more people supported him so his cd's wouldnt' constanly be in and out of print. If you like music, purchase this without hesitation, you must be prepared to feel Rhasshan!!
By Shawn Carter.
**
Recorded in 1973, this is yet another criminally underappreciated Rahsaan Roland Kirk recording from the last phase of a remarkable career. This is perhaps Kirk's most experimental recording in that it involves his most involved performing on multiple horns and flutes — including his infamous and wonderful nose flute — and working with drones on a more surface level. Given Kirk's system of playing three horns at once, the drone horn was always a part of his sonic architecture. The difference here is that the melodic and improvisational lines take a back seat on tunes such as the opening "Salvation and Reminiscing," where he makes fantastic use of a baby E-flat saxophone, and on "Celestial Bliss," on which he is accompanied on his "black mystery pipes" only by percussion. On the medley "Seasons: One Mind Winter/Summer/Ninth Ghost," Kirk begins with the nose flutes, playing a part of "Balm in Gilead," before bringing in a six-piece string orchestra to play behind him as he improvises on all the melodies and modes. And this improvisation is not just a series of out arpeggios playing legato and running through and over the changes, but intricately nuanced, gentle, and architecturally sophisticated wanderings. Despite the beauty of the album's first three tracks, it is on the closer, the 21-and-a-half-minute "Saxophone Concerto," where Kirk most leaves his mark as a composer and innovator on the jazz world. Kirk comes out blowing literally like a train and weaves in, with vocalists Jeanne Lee and Dee Dee Bridgewater, a series of muted horn lines and rhythm figures. The band is 16 pieces total, and the concerto is structured in movements from an intro in which the purpose is stated: "time for America to discover some of its true Black miracles," wherein bebop and hard bop shimmy up against free modes and articulations by the rhythm section and the other horns. Kirk may solo on top with his tenor, but he holds close to the rhythm section's articulation of mutated blues. From here, Latin and faux classical chromatics are shaded into the whole as the pace becomes more and more frenetic, and just as the piece becomes perhaps circus-like, Kirk and company strip it all back and out, into a free universe washed by improvising vocalists, crashing cymbals, droning brass, and rumbling tom-toms before it's all a hush of unidentifiable sounds except for those of breaking glass. There are numerous metaphors and metonyms here, but they will not come to the listener until later, when she or he regains the conscious notion of breathing.
By Thom Jurek. AMG.
**
Tenor Saxophone, Baby E-flat Sax, Flute, Nose Flute, Clarinet, Pipes
Bass- Henry Pearson
Cello- Kermit Moore
Drums- Robert Shy
English Horn, Oboe- Harry Smiles
Percussion- Ralph MacDonald , Sonny Brown
Piano- Ron Burton
Trombone- Dick Griffin
Trumpet- Charles McGhee
Viola- Al Brown*
Violin- Gayle Dixon , Julien Barber , Sanford Allen , Selwart Clarke
**
A1. Salvation And Reminiscing 5:14
       Backing Vocals - Dee Dee Bridgewater , Jeanne Lee
       Clarinet - Rahsaan Roland Kirk
       Conductor - Dick Griffin
A2. Seasons 10:32
       Flute [Nose], Flute - Rahsaan Roland Kirk
A2a    One Mind Winter/Summer 
A2b    Ninth Ghost 
A3. Celestial Bliss 5:47
       Backing Vocals - Dee Dee Bridgewater , Jeanne Lee
       Performer [Black Mystery Pipes], Saxophone [Baby E Flat] - Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B1. Saxophone Concerto 21:31
       Backing Vocals - Jeanne Lee
       Saxophone [Tenor] - Rahsaan Roland Kirk
B1a    Saxophone Miracle 
B1b    One Breath Beyond 
B1c    Dance Of Revolution 
**
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