Does Your House Have Lions?

"One day in the late sixties, I was on the phone with Rahsaan and mentioned to him that just that day I bought a house.
He responded by asking, "Does your house have lions?"
I said, "What?"
He said, "Lions, you know like in front of a museum or the post office. You know, concrete lions. My house has lions. Get a house with lions."

--Joel Dorn

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Friday quote (a few hours early b/c I will be away tomorrow).

"Kirk was like Mingus:  everything he played had in it the shout, the cry that is the beating heart of black music, a cry of sorrow, of hope, of defiance, of pain.  Not only that but also a greeting, something you shouted out to friends and brothers to let them know you were on your way.  However else jazz changed, that cry had to be there.  Strip the modal thing away and there was swing, behind swing the blues, behind the blues that shout, the field holler of slaves."

--from "But Beautiful", Geoff Dyer

"Sun Ra may have been from Saturn but Rahsaan was a Visitor from The Future." Found this today on YouTube. What a great quote!

Monday, January 26, 2015

This is a repost but it's worthy. It's a great interview with Dorthaan by Charlie Hunter for the "Compared to What" Podcast Series

http://comparedtowhatpodcast.com/episode-21-the-dorthaan-kirk-conversation/

Episode 21: The Dorthaan Kirk Conversation
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Dorthaan Kirk is the heart and soul behind one of the best jazz radio stations in The United States, WBGO out of Newark,New Jersey. A tireless ambassador for jazz and music in general. Dorthaan also happens to be the widow of legendary musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Charlie got to sit down with Dorthaan and talk about what it was like for her to move to Los Angeles as a teenager in the late 50’s. Life with Rahsaan. Her incredible run of work at WBGO and about her letter from “Turkey”. You’ll figure out who “Turkey” is after a little while.  Let it be known that Mowo! is “Turkey Jr.” A beautiful conversation about life and family. For those of you who may not know who Rahsaan is please do yourself a major favor and check out the work of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. You should also check out the work of Dorthaan through WBGO and support the station…….unless of course you want a nation of radio stations playing the same Miley Cyrus song over and over and over and over again. You could also do that. Bright Moments everyone :)  CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO LISTEN TO CHARLIE AND DORTHAAN’s CONVERSATION.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Friday quote, RRK

"Bright Moments is comin' home late at night or early in the morning from the gig, and if you're real relaxed and it's raining, you can hear the raindrops hit like in clusters.  Chords like little bells in tune with each other...a melting kind of thing.  Bright Moments is also like not bein' afraid when you hear the thunder 'cause you know it's probably Chick Webb and some other drummers playin' up there across the sky."

--RRK

Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday quote, RRK

"Bright Moments is like waking up one morning and going downstairs
and picking up my two horns and being able to play two different melodies at the same time
and puttin' it on the tape and hearing the results and being scared!"

--RRK