Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Aces Back To Back

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was, and still is, considered by many to be a jazz novelty, mostly due to his uniquely oddball traits. For starters, Kirk was notorious for playing more than one horn at once, in essence forming his own horn section. He even simultaneously phrased each instrument independently of the other, and was known to play a fluttering flute with his nose. But to dismiss the blind activist as an inconsequential cult figure is to miss out on the wonderfully varied and unpredictable playing that has sparked a recent resurgence in the popularity of his music. Like Sun Ra, Kirk's personal eccentricities sometimes got in the way of the music, but a steady stream of well-executed reissues by Kirk archivist Joel Dorn has ensured that his work won't just vanish. The four-disc Aces Back To Back follows the recent three-disc set Dog Years In The Fourth Ring, and it includes four Atlantic recordings that have never before been issued on CD: Left & Right, Rahsaan Rahsaan, Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle, and Other Folks Music. While four albums of Kirk may be a bit much for neophytes to take, his freewheeling arrangements of pop tunes and jazz numbers—frequently interrupted by his own vocal interjections—are always good fun. There was never a player quite like Kirk, and considering that there may never be another, the continued release and respect of his work is a godsend to fans of originality and creative audacity everywhere.