Roland Kirk Live With.... Series

[Hot Ptah]

I am a little bit surprised that there has been no previous forum discussion of the "Roland Kirk Live With....." series of CD sets on the HMBG label. I have been unable to find any previous discussion using the Search funtion. I apologize in advance if these releases have been the previous topic of comprehensive discussions.

Here are some of my favorites in the series. I have been going through a period of listening to them a great deal recently.

Volume 2: Roland Kirk Live With The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Fillmore East, New York, June 19, 1968

Purple Haze; Red House (with Kirk); Voodoo Chile (with Kirk); Blues for Alice (with Kirk); Serenade for a Cuckoo (with Kirk); May This Be Love; Day Tripper; Foxy Lady

Jimi Hendrix--Guitar, vocal; Noel Redding--Bass, vocal; Mitch Mitchell--drums; Roland Kirk--Tenor saxophone, manzello, strich, flute (2,3,4 only); Steve Winwood--organ (3 only).

The sound is a bit muddy on this one, and Kirk is buried far back in the mix at times, but there are moments of genuine excitement, especially when Hendrix and Kirk get into some genuine interplay on "Blues For Alice."

Volume 6: Roland Kirk Live with the Mothers of Invention, Garrick Theater, New York, May 6, 1966

Plastic People; Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder; Call Any Vegetable; Trouble Every Day; Orange County Lumber Truck (with Kirk); King Kong (with Kirk); Dog Breath Variations (with Kirk).

Ray Collins--Vocals; Frank Zappa--Guitar and Vocals; Don Preston--Piano, Organ; Ian Underwood--Piano, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone; Bunk Gardner-Tenor Saxophone; James "Motorhead" Sherwood--Baritone Saxophone; Roy Estrada--Bass; Jimmy Carl Black--Drums; Kirk--Tenor Saxophone, Manzello, Strich, Flute, Clarinet, Nose Flute (5,6,7 only)

The sound is surprisingly good on this set. While the three tracks with Kirk tend to go on and on, there are undeniable moments of inspiration here. Kirk's presence seems to lift the Mothers who could improvise to new, higher levels of performance, especially Underwood and Gardner.

Volume 7: Roland Kirk Live With Quicksilver Messenger Service, Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, August 14, 1966

Pride of Man; Codeine; Gold and Silver (with Kirk); The Fool (with Kirk); Hip Chops (with Kirk); Smokestack Lightning

John Cipollina-Guitar, vocals; Gary Duncan--guitar, vocals; David Freiberg--Bass, vocals; Greg Elmore-drums; Kirk--Tenor Saxophone, Manzello, Strich, Flute, Clarinet, Siren

This was the real surprise of the series to me. Gary Duncan's "Gold and Silver" is very close to "Take Five", so it was a natural vehicle for jazz improvisation. I had not heard Duncan and Cipollina play with so much jazz feeling before. Kirk is obviously enjoying himself here, as you can tell from his shouts and frequent use of the siren near the end of "The Fool"--which had been a highlight of the first QMS album.

Volume 10: Roland Kirk Live With Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Whiskey a Go Go, Los Angeles, April 18, 1967

Electricity; Abba Zaba; Dropout Boogie (with Kirk); Blues With Roland Kirk (with Kirk).

Captain Beefheart--Harmonica, vocals; Alex St. Clair Snouffer--Guitar; Ry Cooder--Guitar; Jerry Handley--Bass; John French--Drums; Kirk--Tenor Saxophone, Manzello, Strich, Siren.

This volume is interesting because it shows how much of a cohesive blues/rock band Beefheart had at the time, while Ry Cooder was with him. It seems a pity that he did not continue more in this direction. In some ways this is the most exciting volume in the entire series. When Kirk and Beefheart trade fours on tenor sax and harmonica on "Blues With Roland Kirk", the sparks really fly.

I must confess that I do not enjoy all of the other volumes in this series as much as the ones I have mentioned here. For example, Volume 4 strikes me as a rather unfocused jam with Garcia, Kaukonen, Cassidy and Buddy Miles. You would think that Volume 5, with Butterfield and Bloomfield, would work well, but it really doesn't, not for me, anyway.

[B. Clugston]

I've heard Volume 2, but I don't like the horn section that Alan Douglas overdubbed later.

[Hot Ptah]

  On 4/1/2010 at 4:49 PM, B. Clugston said:

I've heard Volume 2, but I don't like the horn section that Alan Douglas overdubbed later.

I have never heard that version, but it sounds awful. My Japanese Mini-LP CD does not have any horn section at all.

[Spontooneous]

There's been lots of talk over on the Steve Hoffman board. The general consensus is that the masterings are botched. For example, on Vol. 6, the stritch doesn't sound stritchy enough.

[kh1958]

What label is HMBG? Where do you buy the CDs? (I couldn't find this on amazon.com).

[JSngry]

yeah, these have been totally off my radar. Are they boots or what?

[jlhoots]

Some of you have too much time on your hands.

[Free For All]

And a happy April 1st to you too!

[Hot Ptah]

  On 4/1/2010 at 8:18 PM, Free For All said:

And a happy April 1st to you too!

Yes, it was a fun one to put together.

[Hot Ptah]

  On 4/1/2010 at 6:58 PM, kh1958 said:

What label is HMBG? Where do you buy the CDs? (I couldn't find this on amazon.com).

It's the Humbug label.

My daughter and her friends would text Humbug as "HMBG" (if they even knew that the word humbug exists).

[WorldB3]

good ones.

[kh1958]

You got me--I forgot what day it is.

I've seen film of Roland Kirk jamming with Buddy Guy and I'm sure I read somewhere that he did jam with Hendrix and other rock bands. It seemed credible to the dense.

[Bright Moments]

excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spontooneous]

Dude, I just downloaded them all from Wolfgang's Vault.

[JSngry]

Fooled me! I mean, it seemed plausible.

[sidewinder]

  On 4/1/2010 at 3:42 PM, Hot Ptah said:

The Fool (with Kirk);

Quite plausible until I read this. Nice one !

'King Kong (with Kirk)' almost had me spilling the morning mug of tea.

Edited April 2, 2010 by sidewinder

[Hot Ptah]

Actually, The Fool is the last, very long song on the first QMS album. If it was a clue, it was not meant to be!

[Shrdlu]

Are these available on Rapishare?

[Atheists' Day aside, it would be great to hear these. Kirk would have been up for it. After all, Gil Evans planned a recording with Hendrix, and Mr Sting actually DID record an album and video with Gil - and it's good, too.]