One More Rahsaan Roland Kirk's CD

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April 4, 2006, HYENA Records releases Brotherman In The Fatherland, a never-before-released concert recording of the inimitable jazz giant Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Recorded March 3, 1972, at the Funkhaus in Hamburg, Germany and originally broadcast on German radio and television, the recordings from this performance have surfaced on the jazz underground from time to time over the years--swapped among tape-traders and rare jazz collectors. With the release of Brotherman In The Fatherland, however, these highly-regarded and much-lauded performances from the pristine, high-fidelity "Hamburg '72 radio broadcasts" will be officially released for the first time ever.

"Every few years I try to get a new Rahsaan recording into the market, but we're really selective about what we put out there, so we wait until we feel we have exactly the right recording and performance to be released, " states Brotherman In The Fatherland's producer and longtime Rahsaan Roland Kirk friend and collaborator Joel Dorn. "He never got the respect or the credit he was due during his time, but in the years since his death the people who really believed in his genius have managed to expand his audience and garner him some of the critical praise he so deserved."

On Brotherman In The Fatherland, Rahsaan Roland Kirk is joined by his band of the period featuring Ron Burton on piano, Henry Pete Pearson "Mettathias" on bass, Richie Goldberg on drums and Joe "Habao" Texidor on percussion. The date serves as an exceptional example of Kirk's brilliance on tenor saxophone. His bold, muscular tone and inspired expression on the instrument are highlights throughout the concert, including set openers, "Like Sonny" and "Make It With You, " his often played improvisational vehicle "Pedal Up" and a tour de force rendition of John Coltrane's "Blue Trane." Another standout is the six minute-plus medley of the Kirk compositions "Seasons" and "Serenade To A Cuckoo, " for which he switches to flute and showcases yet another side of his unending musical oeuvre.

Brotherman In The Fatherland is the third Rahsaan Roland Kirk release on HYENA Records. The first was a reissue of the "audio scrapbook" The Man Who Cried Fire, which was assembled as a patchwork quilt of various Kirk "live" recordings from different years and varying bands. The second release was Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom, a previously unissued "live" recording from San Diego in 1974, which David Fricke in Rolling Stone declared: "... jazz of perfect vision: black ire and universal blues, blown with titanic soul."

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who was blinded during his early childhood in Columbus, Ohio, was known for his manic stage antics and his affinity for playing multiple instruments at once, including his own homemade horn inventions such as the manzello and the stritch. He perfected a technique called circular breathing that allowed him to sustain single notes for long periods of time and play extended musical phrases at blistering speeds. Kirk was also outspoken about civil rights, declaring his idiosyncratic musical vision "black classical music." He formed the Jazz and People's Movement in the late 1960s, which was aimed at garnering greater media attention for jazz musicians and African-American composers. These various eccentricities were controversial for a jazz musician of his time and often resulted in Kirk being dubbed a "carnival act" by music journalists and jazz purists alike during his lifetime.

However, his vast body of work has been continually rediscovered and reevaluated since his death in 1977, and thus a new respect has developed for Kirk as a visionary and pioneering artist, not to mention an incredible straight-ahead jazz musician with razor sharp musical instincts and a scholarly knowledge of music history. In addition, artists spanning a variety of genres and styles, including Sonic Youth, Charlie Hunter, The Bad Livers, Chris Robinson, Vernon Reid, Derek Trucks, The Beastie Boys, Skerik, Morphine, Chuck D, A Tribe Called Quest and Bjork, have come forward to sing his praises and attest to his inspiration. A Rahsaan Roland Kirk archive and Internet discussion group called "Bright Moments" has also been established by George Bonifacio to further perpetuate Kirk's enduring legacy.

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