Live in Paris (1970) (Live)

Album review

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was at a creative peak in 1970, during his remarkable run of releases for Atlantic Records between 1967's Here Comes the Whistleman and 1978's posthumous Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real. The music on this slightly mistitled volume is drawn from the Paris leg of Kirk's European tour supporting 1969's classic Volunteered Slavery. The word "lost" in the album title is incorrect. These recordings have been released several times on different labels, including Live in Paris 1970 (also released as two separate volumes), Sweet Fire, Roller Coaster, and Three for the Festival. This single LP from independent Transversales Disques compiles five tracks from the Live in Paris volumes, captured in performance on February 22, 1970, at Studio 104 at Maison de la Radio in front of an invited audience. Kirk's band included longtime compatriots Ron Burton on piano, Dick Griffin on trombone, Vernon Martin on bass, Joe Texidor on percussion, and iconic newcomer Jerome Cooper playing drums. The sound quality, while imperfect, is far better than acceptable.
The set's lengthy bookends, "Sweet Fire" and "Volunteered Slavery," were recorded near the end of the radio concert. The former glides in with a Latin percussion and piano vamp before Griffin and Kirk lay in the melody upfront. Kirk solos on tenor, circular breathing through much of it. Burton's punchy, rhythmic playing style proves an excellent foil for the bandleader, who responds to those pulses in kind before making way for Griffin's majestic break and Burton's tenderly elegant one. The gorgeous version of the ballad "The Inflated Tear" is introduced by Kirk playing several horns simultaneously. "Three for the Festival" dates from 1962's We Free Kings. Guided by Burton's modal chord voicings framing Kirk's flute solo, he also layers in stritch drones and guttural moans through the bell of his instruments. The band joins in, and the proceedings become furiously blue hard bop before skronk claims the close. Kirk's reading of Steve Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" is introduced by Burton's Latin piano and Kirk's tenor sax and wordless chanted chorus. He delivers the melody on a flute and is double-timed by Cooper before the band joins them and the tune opens into a swirling Latin jazz groover. Closer "Volunteered Slavery" is twice the length of its studio version. The opening vamp is played by tenor sax, bass, and tambourine. Kirk chants the verse and chorus as the band joins in. Together they testify as if in church. At the four-minute mark, Kirk's fat tenor sax leads the band in a blue stomp. His solo -- which quotes "Hey Jude" -- rips, roars, wails, and moans as the band erects a foundation that allows the leader to flirt with and extend the harmonic boundaries. Live in Paris 1970: The Lost ORTF Recordings provides a more focused, potent, dynamic presentation than the unedited performance does. While Kirk fans have likely acquired the material elsewhere, it does offer an opportunity to hear this edition of his band at their very best.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo