Rahsaan Roland Kirk at the Zoo

"Rahsaan was talking to the lions and the lions were answering back."
                               --Ademola Johnson, Rahsaan's friend in London

Jimi Hendrix quote about Rahsaan

"I like things from Bach to Roland Kirk.  He hasn't even started yet, Roland Kirk....When you hear it, you can hear so much for the future, too.  I mean not necessarily by notes but you can hear it by feelings."

--Jimi Hendrix, NYC, 1968

Roland Kirk - I Talk With The Spirits

I want to know...

What was the song that turned you on to Rahsaan?  For me, it was "The Inflated Tear".  What was it for you?

I Say A Little Prayer - Live 1969

Dec. 5th--a shared date

My birthday and the day that Rahsaan died.  I've never been sure what to make of this coincidence.  Rahsaan's friend, the poet Betty Neals says, "It's a gentle sign." 

 This isn't the clearest picture but this is at the 75th b-day tribute I threw for Rahsaan at the Elephant Room in Austin this past August.  (L-R is Dorthaan, Betty Neals, and my mom, Liz).

This was taken shortly before Dorthaan got up to speak.  She told the story of when we first met:  "May was chasing everybody in New York, from Elvin Jones's wife, and I would run into people and they'd be like, 'This May lady from Austin is looking for you.'  And I'm like, 'Well, I'm NOT hard to find, I work at WBGO!"  Anyhow, when I finally met her, I was realized, 'Oh my god, she's just a kid in college!!!'  And for those of you who believe in the universe, May and I were meant to meet.  May was born on Dec. 5th--not the same year, but that's the anniversary of Rahsaan's death.  So the universe told me that May was a special person."

Of course I was blushing in the audience--still star-struck over meeting Dorthaan all those years ago.  And even though I've been working on this book for like a hundred years now, I'm still amazed by the crazy luck, or whatever you want to call it, that brought me to Rahsaan.  If I hadn't taken that jazz appreciation class in college, if I'd skipped class that day, if I'd never heard him:  I can't imagine.

As Joel Dorn once said to me on the phone, "Do you have any idea how rare it is that somebody like him got to somebody like you?"  I do.  And I thank my lucky stars every day. 

The song that I've had stuck on repeat all this week....."Flytown Nose Blues"