Roland Kirk - 'The Inflated Tear'

"When I die, I want them to play 'The Black and Crazy Blues'. I want to be cremated, put in a bag of pot, and I want beautiful people to smoke me and hope they get something out of it."

— Rahsaan Roland Kirk

 December 6, 1977, was when drummer, Paul Motian, told my husband, Jerry and me, that Rahsaan had died the day before, in Bloomington, Indiana.  Paul, who we rented the loft below ours to, was visibly shaken.  I knew Rahsaan had a stroke, but he was still playing, and only 42 years old!  Earlier in the year, Paul his sister Sarah, Rahsaan, his wife Dorthaan, my husband Jerry, and I had all had dinner one hot humid August night here in Manhattan.  At dinner Rahsaan was hip, intelligent, hysterically funny, a true gentleman, and refreshingly devoid of ego.  Dorthaan and I became friends that night, and have been ever since.

Rahsaan's service was held on a balmy December morning at St Peter's Church [https://www.saintpeters.org/], which is located at street level of The Citigroup Center, a 59-story office building on Lexington ave, on the east side of midtown Manhattan (John Coltrane and many other Jazz heavyweights have had their funeral there). 

As we entered the church, programs were handed out for the ceremony, listing the songs that would be played and the musicians.  Inside the church, when you first walk in, there's a series of large windows that overlook the lower level, when I looked down, I saw Rahsaan laid out in his open casket.  He had his saxophone strap around his neck as if he was going to get up and play another set.  Paul said to Jerry and me, "He's gonna need that strap to jam with Bird and Trane".  I remember, taking solace, and simultaneously being freaked out, by Paul's words.

We watched as they led Dorthaan and the family past Rahsaan followed by the band members and a few people from the jazz world including Sonny Stitt, Clifford Jordan, and Joel Dorn, his record producer.  The band opened with "Black and Crazy Blues" followed by "The Inflated Tear" and "Bright Moments". After some speakers spoke, Betty Neils bought down the house with "Theme for the Eulipions".  It ended with "Dem Red Beans and Rice".

I remember thinking to myself, outside these walls nobody has a clue, that one of the great innovators and creative geniuses in jazz, was being laid to rest inside these walls.  Selfishly thought I would never have dinner with, hang out with or see Rahsaan perform live again.

Sadly, Rahsaan's death was not accompanied by any of the sense of muted optimism, any sense of comfort in its time and place, that is inferred from "The Black and Crazy Blues". <sigh>

'The Inflated Tear' has some of the most beautiful jazz songs ever recorded, and it's definitely one of my favorite jazz albums.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's the most underrated jazz album of all time.  The Inflated Tear, is named after the condition that caused Rahsaan to become fully blind (from only partially before) when a nurse accidentally overdosed him on eye medication.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk's music is jazz by definition, but in reality it is s unclassifiable: a completely original performer whose style encompasses his early New Orleans roots, through swing and bebop, to the abstraction of the 1960s and 1970s avant-garde.

This is Rahsaan's magnum opus, it's a sprawling, yet concentrated jazz history that doesn't begin to approach mere nostalgia - it still remains and sounds fully contemporary.  From the opening chords of the "Black and Crazy Blues" Rahsaan takes us on a ride that is unmatched in virtuosity by any other performer regardless of their musical idiom.  While the title track, "The Inflated Tear" is Kirk's spiritual essay about his sightless life, it is a musical tone poem for us the listener, taking us to places seldom visited.  It is truly a masterpiece.

Earlier today, I played 'The Inflated Tear' for my grandchildren and related to them the above story. 

Oh, and the title track blew'em away...if you've never heard it, it will blow you away, too.

For the freeload, tell us what music you have played for a previous generation, family or otherwise.