This photo of Rahsaan Roland Kirk was taken by Del de la Haye at Ronnie Scott’s club in London. Although he had been taking pictures of the musician over the course of several weeks, Hay said that Kirk didn’t care to talk with him because he was white. However, after he gave him a painting based on one of the photographs using heavy layers of acrylic paint, Kirk, who was blind, ran his fingers over it and said, “Hey, man, you may be white, but your heart is black.” Clearly, a compliment.
On December 11, 2000, Kirk was inducted into the hall of fame at the Ohio State School for the Blind. I was invited (along with Arnett Howard and several others) to make a dedication speech. Because I have since had several requests for copies, I have decided to include it here:
IT IS MY PRIVILEGE AS WELL AS MY PLEASURE TO BE HERE THIS EVENING TO HONOR THE MEMORY AND MUSICAL LEGACY OF RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK.
RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK WAS A PHENOMENON, A FORCE OF NATURE, A COMPLETELY UNIQUE, UNCLASSIFIABLE, AND UNCOMPROMISING ARTIST WHO IN HIS ALL-TOO-BRIEF LIFE TURNED THE MUSICAL WORLD ON ITS EAR
___ AND HE WAS FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO.
ALTHOUGH BLIND, RAHSAAN POSSESSED EXTRAORDINARY VISION. ALTHOUGH BLIND, RAHSAAN COULD SEE WITH REMARKABLE CLARITY. AND WHAT HE SAW MORE ACUTELY AND MORE INTENSELY THAN ANYONE BEFORE OR SINCE WAS THE COLOR, THE SHAPE, THE HUE, THE TEXTURE, THE VERY VIBRATION OF SOUND.
LIKE A PAINTER CLUTCHING A FISTFUL OF BRUSHES, RAHSAAN EMPLOYED A WHOLE PANOPLY OF INSTRUMENTS TO REPRODUCE THE RAINBOW OF SOUNDS HE HEARD IN HIS HEAD: THE TENOR, SOPRANO, AND BARITONE SAX; THE STRITCH AND MANZELLO; THE FLUTE, NOSEFLUTE, WHISTLE, BELL, GONG, AND DOZENS OF OTHER INSTRUMENTS – SOME OF WHICH HE HAD TO FIRST INVENT, SOME OF WHICH HE HAD TO RE-INVENT, AND SOME OF WHICH OTHERS SAID WEREN’T INSTRUMENTS AT ALL, BEGINNING WITH THE PIECE OF GARDEN HOSE HE HAD PLAYED AS A CHILD. BUT RAHSAAN FOUND MUSIC WHERE NO ONE ELSE HAD EVER EVEN LOOKED
OFTEN RAHSAAN PLAYED TWO OR THREE OF THESE INSTRUMENTS IN COMBINATION – SIMULTANEOUSLY – NOT LIKE SOME CIRCUS PLAYER, NOT LIKE SOME NOVELTY ACT, NOT LIKE SOME SHOWBOATING ENTERTAINER HOPING TO SEE HIS NAME IN THE GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS, BUT LIKE A MAN POSSESSED, A MAN RACING MADLY TO KEEP PACE WITH HIS OWN UNBRIDLED IMAGINATION
___ AND HE WAS FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO.
MANY WHO SHOULD KNOW, MANY WHO SAW HIM PLAY AND MARVELED AT WHAT THEY SAW, SAY RAHSAAN COULD HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST OF ALL TENOR SAX PLAYERS, THE GREATEST OF ALL FLUTE PLAYERS, THE GREATEST OF ALL CLARINET PLAYERS, OR THE GREATEST ANYTHING-YOU-CAN-NAME PLAYER HAD HE CHOSEN TO LIMIT HIMSELF TO JUST ONE INSTRUMENT. BUT I BELIEVE THEY ARE MISSING THE POINT. RAHSAAN’S GREATEST INSTRUMENT WAS HIMSELF. HE WASN’T A SAXOPHONIST, A FLUTIST, A CLARINETIST, PIANIST, OBOEIST, DIDGERIDOOIST, OR ANY OTHER KIND OF INSTRUMENTALIST, BUT A MUSICIAN AND HIS INSTRUMENT WAS THE KIRKOPHONE. OF THAT HE WAS THE ONE, TRUE, ABSOLUTE MASTER. WHEN PLAYING THE KIRKOPHONE, HE KNEW NO LIMITS.
WHEN RAHSAAN PLAYED, HE WAS A VERITABLE LIVING ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC TAPPING INTO EVERYTHING FROM NEW ORLEANS HOT JAZZ TO AVANTE GARDE COOL, FROM EUROPEAN CLASSICAL TO CHILDHOOD NURSERY RHYMES, FROM THE MUSIC OF THE CHURCH TO THE MUSIC OF THE STREETS.
___ AND HE WAS FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO.
IN 1975 – JUST BEFORE THANKSGIVING – RAHSAAN SUFFERED A STROKE THAT LEFT HIM PARALYZED ON ONE SIDE. HIS STORY SHOULD HAVE ENDED THERE. JUST AS HIS STORY MIGHT HAVE ENDED WHEN HE WAS BLINDED AS A CHILD. JUST AS HIS STORY COULD HAVE ENDED WHEN HE WAS BORN BLACK IN THOSE JIM CROW TIMES.
AFTERALL, WHO EVER HEARD OF A ONE-ARMED SAXOPHONIST? IMPOSSIBLE! BUT RAHSAAN HAD BEEN DOING IMPOSSIBLE THINGS, OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS, FINDING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS ALL HIS LIFE. HE BELIEVED HE COULD GO ANYWHERE AND DO ANYTHING. SO HE DID. IN A VERY FEW MONTHS HE WAS BACK AND IF HE WASN’T QUITE AS TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT AS THE RAHSAAN OF OLD, HE WAS, IF ANYTHING, EVEN A GREATER MUSICIAN, EVEN A GREATER MIRACLE
___ AND HE WAS FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO.
NOT ONLY DID RASHSAAN CONTINUE TO PERFORM, BUT HE CONTINUED TO PLAY TWO INSTRUMENTS AT THE SAME TIME, ADAPTING THEM IN HIS RUBE GOLDBERG-WAY WITH TAPE AND STRING AND BITS OF WIRE, ADDING KEYS, DEVELOPING NEW FINGERINGS LIKE SOME KIND OF MECHANICAL GENIUS OR WIZARD, BOTH OF WHICH, ARGUABLY, HE WAS.
WHEN IN 1977, RAHSAAN LAID DOWN HIS HORN FOR THE LAST TIME, I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER THAT IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, HIS HOMETOWN, WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FRONT PAGE NEWS WAS RELEGATED TO PAGE FIFTEEN. THE DEATH OF OUR GREATEST MUSICIAN WAS PAGE FIFTEEN NEWS, IN HIS OWN HOMETOWN WAS VIRTUALLY IGNORED.
SO WHEN LOCAL HISTORIAN BOB THOMAS AND I FOUNDED THE COLUMBUS SENIOR MUSICIANS HALL OF FAME IN LATE 1994, WE DID SO WITH THE MEMORY OF RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK IN MIND. UPON HIS INDUCTION INTO THE HALL OF FAME THREE YEARS LATER, I SAID BY DOING SO WE WERE MAKING AN EFFORT TO CORRECT THIS INJUSTICE. I ALSO SAID I WAS CONFIDENT RAHSAAN WOULD BE REDISCOVERED IN THE COMING YEARS AND THAT HE WOULD FINALLY RECEIVE THE RECOGNITION WHICH WAS TOO FREQUENTLY DENIED HIM IN LIFE.
THOSE WHO HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR DEBT TO RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK INCLUDE QUINCY JONES, INCLUDE SONNY ROLLINS, INCLUDE GROVER WASHINGTON, JR, JIMI HENDRIX, IAN ANDERSON, ERIC BURDEN, FRANK ZAPPA, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, AND MANY MORE.
WITH THE PUBLICATION OF JON KRUTH’S BIOGRAPHY, BRIGHT MOMENTS, THE ON-GOING REISSUANCE OF HIS RECORDINGS, AND THE DEDICATION OF THIS MEMORIAL, THE FIRST STEPS ARE BEING TAKEN TO RESTORE HIM TO HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE PANTHEON OF JAZZ GIANTS AND TO ENSURE IT IS NEVER AGAIN FORGOTTEN THAT ONCE HE MOVED AMONG US.
___ AND THAT HE WAS FROM COLUMBUS, OHIO.
THANK YOU.
