Search - Rahsaan Roland Kirk :: Bright Moments

Great introduction to the magical music of Rahsaan

Tyler Smith | Denver, CO United States | 02/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If I were pressed to recommend just one of Rahsaan's albums, "Bright Moments" would get the nod. It captures the magic that he created when he took the stage. His shows were part tour-de-force solos, part histories of jazz, and part good-old-fashioned partying. It's all here on this CD."Bright Moments" captures a 1974 show at Keystone Korner in SF. Rahsaan sums up the spirit of the occasion when he says of the Keystone, "It's nice to play in a place that's like your house." The crowd is with him on every note, and he returns the favor with some inspired playing.Like Miles, Rahsaan had a gift for turning pop music into jazz inspiration. Included here is a marvelous take on the Bacharach/Dionne Warwick tune, "You'll Never Get to Heaven." Later on he shouts, "Y'all wanna go to New Orleans?" and suddenly we are there, listening to him testify about "Dem Red Beans and Rice."Rahsaan was a jazz historian and we get meditations on Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" and Ellington's "Prelude to a Kiss." And if you want more passion about the music, listen to his poem/harangue "Clickety Clack," in which he exhorts someone -- anyone! -- to "bring the spirit back." The spirit never died while this giant was alive. Put on the CD and you'll hear the spirit come back -- right into your living room and into your life."

I was there!

Wayne M. Salvatore | Monte Sereno, CA United States | 08/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rahsaan was always very talkative and funny. I first saw him at a small club in Berkeley around 1972. Between sets as he was being led to the front of the club by one of his musicians, I told him I was doing a review of his performance for the college newspaper. He just said, "no falsehoods!"
I got to see him this last time at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1974 and the crowd hung on to every note and every sentence. I remember Rahsaan being very funny especially with his nose flute and the way he'd make rumbling noises when he played the regular flute. And he was always making funny statements during songs such as--"try playing like this, Herbie Mann!" He was a joy to see and hear."

What more needs to be said?

Peppino | 01/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As Mr Kirk's musical/historical life has been well documented, I can only add a few things.I first heard Rahsaan , listening outside a famous (and now defunkt) Chicago nightclub years years ago, and was one of many musical epifanies I have had the pleasure to experience thru the years.I rank Rahsaan Roland Kirk as one in my pantheon of musical , almost other worldly inspirations.
(If curious, this includes Hermeto Pascoal, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Coltrane, Mingus, Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, Astor Piazzola, Gil Evans, ..you see the foto unfold, no?This recording, "ao vivo"(live) is a great chance for those who were not lucky enough to hear the mestre perform, in person or on filme.This recording gives much time to Rahsaan's priceless onstage verbalisings, revealing even more of his soul and mind than the sounds of his various reeds/winds articulate! Musically, with his "craque" grupo (longtime associates), there are so many highlights ;"Pedal Up", a modal homanagem to ColtraneA luscious "Jitterbug Waltz" , equal parts "tradition" and Kirk's "de-composition" of the Fats Waller classicAs always, Rahsaan mines the great popular musics of Bert Bacharach and burns "You Will Never Get to Heaven""Prelude to a Kiss", Rahsaanelligtonia
,and of course his classic "Bright Moments"(talk and "song"!)First rate Rahsaan , and only 1000000000 stars of course!"