Boogie Woogie String Along For Real Rahsaan Roland Kirk & Al Hibbler

• 1 Boogie-Woogie String Along For Real 08:52
• 2 I Loves You Porgy 01:52
• 3 Make Me A Pallet On The Floor 07:16
• 4 Hey Babebips 05:07
• 5 In A Mellow Tone 06:15
• 6 Summertime 01:40
• 7 Dorthaan's Walk 07:11
• 8 Watergate Blues 06:36
• Total Runtime 44:49

Info for Boogie Woogie String Along For Real

The final album Rahsaan Roland Kirk ever recorded remains one of his finest. Post-stroke, Kirk struggled with his conception of the music he was trying to make. Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real is the payoff. The title track features strings playing distended harmonics over his blowing and the backing of a guttersnipe rhythm section and a full-blown horn section -- including a very young trombonist named Steve Turre -- behind him. From here, Kirk works veritable magic with the material of the age, swimming deeply in the blues that Gershwin didn't know he had in &'I Loves You Porgy,' getting an aging Tiny Grimes to wail his guitar-playing ass off on &'Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor,' and then flowing elegantly on Ellington's &'In a Mellow Tone' and Gershwin's &'Summertime.' It's almost too much to bear as the emotions come falling from the horn and the rhythm section tries to keep them balanced, but the heartbreak and joy are everywhere. When Kirk closes the disc with his own stomping hard-swing R&B of &'Dorthaan's Walk' (dedicated to his wife) and takes it out with Percy Heath's &'Watergate Blues,' he closes the circle. With Hilton Ruiz playing a deep-grooved Latin funk against Kirk's harmonica and alto, Heath playing cello, and Turre opening up a huge space of feeling behind the front line as Sonny Brown and Phil Bowler keep it all in check on drums and bass respectively, Kirk sums it all up in his alto solo. There is so much sadness, betrayal, pain, and resolve in his lines that the rules of Western music no longer apply. The all-inclusive vision Kirk has of a music embraces all emotions and attitudes and leaves no one outside the door. This is Kirk's Black Classical Music, and it is fully realized on this final track and album. (Thom Jurek, Rovi)

'This is the last album Rahsaan recorded, a classic example of his dedication to BLACK CLASSICAL MUSIC, and another link in his chain of his music. Those of you who have heard him know that he did not use the term 'jazz.' He always listened to all aspects of music and explored all areas in his recordings, not just his yunes, as is demonstrated on this album.' (Doorthaan Kirk)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, flute, harmonica, clarinet, manzello, tenor saxophone, lyricon, kalimba
Cornell Dupree, guitar
Tiny Grimes, guitar
Billy Butler, guitar
Percy Heath, cello
Kermit Moore, cello
Steve Turre, trombone
Howard Johnson, tuba
Sammy Price, piano
William S. Fischer, electric piano & synthesizer
Trudy Pitts, organ
Hilton Ruiz, keyboards
Richard Tee, keyboards
Phil Bowler, bass
Arvell Shaw, bass
Milton Suggs, bass
Mattathias Pearson, bass
Sonny Brown, drums
Walter Perkins, drums
Tony Waters, percussion

Digitally remastered.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
(multi-instrumentalist) was born in Columbus, Ohio on Aug. 7, 1935 and passed away on Dec. 5, 1977 in Bloomington, Indiana.

Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He became blind at the age of two, as a result of poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added “Rahsaan” to his name after hearing it in a dream.

He started playing the bugle and trumpet, then learned the clarinet and C-melody sax. Kirk began playing tenor sax professionally in R&B bands at the age of 15. While a teenager, he discovered the “Manzello” and “Stritch” — the former, a modified version of the Saxello, which was itself a slightly curved variant of the B flat soprano sax; the latter, a modified straight E flat alto. To these and other instruments, Kirk began making his own improvements. He reshaped all three of his saxes so that they could be played simultaneously; he’d play tenor with his left hand, finger the Manzello with his right, and sound a drone on the Stritch, for instance. Kirk’s self-invented technique was in evidence from his first recording, a 1956 R&B record called Triple Threat. By 1960 he had begun to incorporate a siren whistle into his solos, and by ’63 he had mastered circular breathing, a technique that enabled him to play without pause for breath.

In his early 20s, Kirk worked in Louisville before moving to Chicago in 1960. That year he made his second album, Introducing Roland Kirk, which featured saxophonist/trumpeter Ira Sullivan. In 1961, Kirk toured Germany and spent three months with Charles Mingus. From that point onward, Kirk mostly led his own group, the Vibration Society, recording prolifically with a range of sidemen.

Preferring to lead his own bands, Kirk rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones and drummer Roy Haynes and had notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones’ “Soul Bossa Nova”, a 1964 hit song re-popularized in the Austin Powers films (Jones 1964; McLeod et al. 1997). In the early ’70s, Kirk became something of an activist; he led the “Jazz and People’s Movement,” a group devoted to opening up new opportunities for jazz musicians. His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk’s knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw on many elements of the music’s past, from ragtime to swing and free jazz. Kirk also absorbed classical influences, and his artistry reflected elements of pop music by composers such as Smokey Robinson and Burt Bacharach, as well as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and other jazz musicians.

The live album Bright Moments (1973) is an example of one of his shows. His main instrument was the tenor saxophone, supplemented by other saxes, and contrasted with the lighter sound of the flute. At times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonizing with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using circular breathing, or play the rare, seldom heard nose flute. A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade, but even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues.

Kirk was politically outspoken. During his concerts, between songs he often talked about topical issues, including black history and the civil rights movement. His monologues were often laced with satire and absurdist humor. According to white comedian Jay Leno, when Leno toured with Kirk as Kirk’s opening act, Kirk would introduce him by saying, “I want to introduce a young brother who knows the black experience and knows all about the white devils …. Please welcome Jay Leno!”

In 1975, Kirk suffered a major stroke which led to partial paralysis of one side of his body. However, he continued to perform and record, modifying his instruments to enable him to play with one arm. At a live performance at Ronnie Scott’s club in London he even managed to play two instruments, and carried on to tour internationally and even appear on television.

He died from a second stroke in 1977 after performing in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana University Student Union in Bloomington, Indiana.

This album contains no booklet.