Potpourri: Kenny Burrell, Max Roach, Roland Kirk

Jazz Collector is on the mailing list for a number of news releases and updates from record companies, such as Mosaic, although we never seem to be able to get on any lists for review copies of anything (hint, hint if anyone from Mosaic is paying attention). Anyway, a few things that have come into the mailbox have intrigued us lately, so we will depart from our usual eBay watching today to share some stuff.

Kenny Burrell — To Preserve ‘America’s Gift to the World’ A Jazz Elder Becomes a UCLA Professor

This is an interesting article on Kenny Burrell and his longtime commitment to jazz education. Definitely worth a read.

Max Roach — Relevatory Archive of a Giant of Jazz

Interesting stuff. At their peak the Brown-Roach Quintet was making $500 total for two nights at Basin Street, $900 for six days at the Cafe Bohemia. Today, there are single copies of records recorded at the Cafe Bohemia that sell for more than that.

Roland Kirk — The Limelight/Verve Years

This is a limited edition LP box set. The email containing the reminiscence by Michael Cuscuna caught my eye. I, too, was a big fan of Roland Kirk and I used to go to see him whenever he would play at the Village Vanguard or any other venue in the city. He was always much better live than on record, for whatever reasons. Of all his records, I think the one that best captures him is the live side on Volunteered Slavery from Newport. Anyway, I noticed this because I’m a Kirk fan and because it seems like Mosaic is back to putting out albums on vinyl, which pleases me. When they stopped issuing vinyl a few years ago, I stopped buying their sets. Anyway, this is the note from Cuscuna that got my attention. I’m sure Mosaic won’t mind me repeating it here. If they object, I’ll take it down.

“When I was about 15 years old, I wrote Roland Kirk a fan latter. I was fascinated by his odd, antique saxophones and his ability to play three of them together. After a return letter from Roland’s wife Edith, I began going down to see him at the Five Spot on St. Marks Place. Those nights at The Five Spot are burned into my mind. Roland was fluent in all things music; there was no time lapse between what came into his quick, creative mind and what came out of his array of saxophones, flutes and noise makers. Watching him play “Mood Indigo” on three saxophones was as musical as it was extraordinary, but hearing him wail on tenor sax, steeped in the traditions of Don Byas and Johnny Griffin was just as amazing. Every set he played was an adventure for him as well as for the audience.

“Each was an overwhelming and joyous event, not because he would play two and three reed instruments simultaneously, which he did with amazing skill and very musical results, but because he was living encyclopedia of jazz; all types of music just poured out of him like a gusher. He was an ever-thinking force of energy who swept the audience up into his orbit. The Five Spot was his living room and he made everyone feel like a welcome guest.

“One night early in our acquaintance, I brought Roland a burned out saxello (similar to a manzello) that I found in the music shop where my saxophone was repaired. He was charmed by this and soon I’d spend afternoons in his Central Park West apartment on Saturdays or Sundays when I was going in to New York to make the rounds of jazz clubs. I treasured those afternoon tutorials with his impressive record collection and his lectures on such underrated artists as Lucky Thompson, Don Byas and Johnny Griffin. Roland was gracious with his time and attention and I think he was responding to the love of jazz and the eagerness to learn that he sensed in me.

“Unlike most musical artists, Roland was an avid collector who listened to and absorbed everything. He was notorious for calling labels and requesting promotional (i.e. free) copies of their latest releases. If one called him to say hello, one might get this response: “Did you hear “Fire Music”? What the hell is Archie Shepp doing recording “The Girl From Ipanema”?” to “Have you heard “Ascension”? I think Trane may have gone too far!”

“On my first visit, he gave me a copy of his latest Mercury album “Roland Kirk Meets The Benny Golson Orchestra.” He talked excitedly about his forthcoming project, an all-flute album for weeks leading up to the session. I happened to call him on the evening after that recording and he was absolutely jubilant. His next recording is still considered his greatest by many (including me). For the first time, he was going to record with an all-star trio rather than his working group. Jaki Byard and Richard Davis had already proven to be a divine duo on Booker Ervin’s “Freedom Book” and Elvin Jones, well, is Elvin Jones.

While “Slightly Latin” and “Now Please Don’t Cry, Beautiful Edith” are excellent albums, “I Talk With Spirits” and “Rip, Rig And Panic” were two of Roland’s proudest moments in a recording studio and remains two peaks among his many achievements. It was an honor to know and learn from Roland and it gives me great satisfaction to shine the spotlight on these mid-sixties recordings.

– Michael Cuscuna