Monday, January 25, 2010

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Simmer, Reduce, Garnish & Serve (1995)



This single CD has selections from Rahsaan Roland Kirk's final three albums. His work on his last record Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real was quite heroic and miraculous because he had suffered a major stroke that greatly limited his abilities; in fact Kirk had the use of only one of his hands so his playing was sadly restricted. There is a remarkable amount of variety plus a liberal dose of Kirk's humor on this retrospective, ranging from a "Bagpipe Medley" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" (complete with a whistler and Freddie Moore's washboard) to a warm "I'll Be Seeing You" and a tribute to Johnny Griffin, the main influence on Rahssan's tenor sound. For those listeners who do not already have the three LPs, this is a strong best-of sampler of the saxophonist's final period although his earlier recordings are recommended first. This CD concludes with an emotional and rather touching collage that pays tribute to Kirk's genius and mourns his premature death

01 Lunatic Danza
02 Theme for the Eulipions
03 Sweet Georgia Brown
04 I'll Be Seeing You
05 Los Angeles Negro Chorus
06 Serenade to a Cuckoo
07 Bagpipe Medley
08 J. Griff's Blues
09 Mary McLeod Bethune
10 I Loves You, Porgy
11 Hey Babebips
12 In a Mellow Tone
13Dorthaan's Walk
14Watergate Blues
15 Summertime
16 Thunder and Lighting Goodbye

3 comments:

marram62 said...

http://rapidshare.com/files/335174586/Simmer__Reduce__Garnish___Serve.rar

aroonie said...

Thank you VERY much for this recording of Rahsaan. I've been looking out for it but it has always escaped me - until now!

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell me what Track 5 is about? There are no personnel listed for it. I haven't listened to it carefully to transcribe the lyrics but it sounds like something one would hear in the soundtrack of Gone With The Wind, not the work of a proud, fiercely independent artist as Rhasaan had a reputation for. The producer slipped this track in as a joke right? Where did he get it from? Was Rhasaan in on the joke?