Editing Rahsaan Roland Kirk (section)

== Instruments and techniques ==
[[File:19720100 RolandKirk KT 06.jpg|thumb|left|Kirk in 1972]]
Kirk's musical career spans from 1955 until his death in 1977. He preferred to lead his own bands and rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger [[Quincy Jones]], drummer [[Roy Haynes]] and worked with bassist [[Charles Mingus]]. One of his best-known recorded performances is the lead flute and solo on Jones' "[[Soul Bossa Nova]]", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the ''[[Austin Powers (film series)|Austin Powers]]'' films.<ref name="Henry2008">{{cite book|last=Henry|first=Clarence Bernard|title=Let's Make Some Noise: Axé and the African Roots of Brazilian Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiNoYC8pZA8C&pg=PA167|access-date=July 13, 2020|date=August 21, 2008|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781604730821|page=167}}</ref>

Kirk's multi-instrumentality was credited as having a substantial musical conception. This inclusivity included blues music, a love of stride piano and early jazz, and an appreciation for pop tunes.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> But his vision was much wider than that of most of his contemporaries. According to producer [[Joel Dorn]], he was also hugely knowledgeable about classical music. Pieces by [[Saint-Saëns]], [[Hindemith]], [[Tchaikovsky]], [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvorak]] and [[Heitor Villa-Lobos|Villa-Lobos]] would all feature on his albums over the years, alongside standards, pop songs and original compositions. Rahsaan's influences went beyond jazz and consequentially, he preferred the term "Black Classical Music".<ref name="Heining" />

His playing was generally rooted in [[soul jazz]] or [[hard bop]], but Kirk's knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw from many elements of the music's past, from [[ragtime]] to [[Swing (genre)|swing]] and [[free jazz]].<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Kirk also absorbed [[classical music|classical]] influences, and his artistry reflected elements of [[pop music]] by composers such as [[Smokey Robinson]] and [[Burt Bacharach]], as well as [[Duke Ellington]], [[John Coltrane]] and other jazz musicians.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

Kirk played and collected many musical instruments, mainly multiple [[saxophone]]s, [[clarinet]]s and [[flute]]s. His primary saxophones were a standard [[tenor saxophone]], [[stritch (saxophone)|stritch]] (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's conventional upturned bell), and a [[manzello]] (a modified [[saxello]] soprano sax, with a larger, upturned bell).<ref name="LarkinGE"/> A number of his instruments were exotic or homemade. Kirk modified instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique.<ref>"With one instrument functioning as a drone and keywork modification to the other two, Kirk was able to play in three part harmony with himself." Stephen Cottrell (2012). ''The Saxophone'', Yale University Press, p. 289.</ref> Critic [[Gary Giddins]] wrote that Kirk's tenor playing alone was enough to bring him "renown".<ref name=Giddins/>

Usually, he appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and at times he would play a number of these horns at once, harmonizing with himself, or sustain a note for lengthy durations by using [[circular breathing]]. He used the multiple horns to play true chords, essentially functioning as a one-man saxophone section. Kirk insisted that he was only trying to emulate the sounds he heard in his head. Even while playing two or three saxophones at once, the music was intricate, powerful jazz with a strong feel for the blues.<ref name=Giddins/> The live album ''[[Bright Moments (Rahsaan Roland Kirk album)|Bright Moments]]'' (1973) is an example of one of his shows.

Kirk was also an influential flute player, including [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorders]]. According to Giddins, Kirk was the first major jazz innovator on flute after [[Eric Dolphy]] (who died in 1964).<ref name=Giddins/> Kirk employed several techniques, including singing or humming into the flute at the same time as playing. Another was to play the standard transverse flute at the same time as a [[nose flute]].

He played a variety of other instruments, including whistles; often kept a gong within reach; the [[clarinet]], [[harmonica]], [[English horn]], and was a competent [[trumpeter]].<ref>See his version of "Bye Bye Blackbird" on ''[[The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color]]'' (1975) in which he introduces the theme on trumpet before switching to saxophones for the remainder of the song.</ref> He utilized unique approaches, such as playing a trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece.

He also made use of non-musical devices, such as alarm clocks, sirens, or a section of common garden hose (dubbed "the black mystery pipes"). From the early 1970s, his studio recordings used tape-manipulated ''[[musique concrète]]'' and primitive electronic sounds before such things became commonplace.<ref name=Giddins/>
{{Listen
| type         = music
| title        = Flute
| filename     = Rahsaan flute clip.ogg
| description  = Rahsaan simultaneously playing flute and singing, punctuated with a siren whistle.
| filename2    = Rahsaan blackmysterypipes.ogg
| title2       = Black mystery pipes
| description2 = Rahsaan playing black mystery pipes.
| title3       = Saxophones
| filename3    = Rahsaan multiplesax.ogg
| description3 = Rahsaan simultaneously playing multiple saxophones. 
}}

''[[The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color]]'' was a unique album in the annals of recorded jazz and popular music. It was a two-LP set, with Side 4 apparently "blank", the label not indicating any content. However, once word of "the secret message" got around among Rahsaan's fans, one would find that about 12 minutes into Side 4 appeared the first of two telephone answering machine messages recorded by Kirk, the second following soon thereafter (but separated by more blank grooves). The surprise impact of these segments appearing on "blank" Side 4 was lost on the initial CD reissue of this album (though restored as track 20 on the CD re-release).

He gleaned information on what was happening in the world via radio and TV. His later recordings often incorporated his spoken commentaries on current events, including [[Richard Nixon]]'s involvement in the [[Watergate scandal]]. The ''3-Sided Dream'' album was a "concept album" which incorporated "found" or environmental sounds and [[tape loops]], tapes being played backwards, etc. Snippets of [[Billie Holiday]] singing are also heard briefly. The album even confronts the rise of influence of computers in society, as Rahsaan threatens to pull the plug on the machine trying to tell him what to do.

In the album ''[[Other Folks' Music]]'' the spoken words of [[Paul Robeson]], another outspoken black artist, can be briefly heard.