Kirk turns triple play on live disc

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Oct. 22, 2004 | 8:48 a.m.

Listen to the eighth cut on Rahsaan Roland Kirk's live album "(I, Eye, Aye)" and you'll swear there are two or three men playing woodwinds together onstage.

Check the disc's song list, however, and you'll discover the track is listed as "Solo Piece."

Still not convinced it's really just one person playing? Delve into the liner notes, which detail the band for the performance, a 1972 appearance at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival.

There's a pianist, a bassist, a drummer and a percussionist. Everything else is handled by Kirk, one of the most amazing showmen in jazz history.

So how, exactly, did the man harmonize with himself not only on "Solo Piece," but also throughout many of the album's other compositions?

A photo on the inset depicting Kirk with three instruments in his mouth -- simultaneously! -- provides the answer.

That's right. Kirk developed a technique for blowing into multiple reeds at the same time, and he wasn't just generating a bunch of noise.

Somehow, the blind musician created brilliant harmonies with saxophones, clarinets and flutes, all using one mouth, one set of fingers and -- perhaps most amazingly -- one brain to keep it all straight.

It might sound like a novelty act, and Kirk's penchant for apparent gimmickry didn't stop there. He plays a flute with his nose during "Blue Rol No. 2" on the Montreux recording, and was also famous for passing out whistles and encouraging his audiences to add their own music to the mix.

But Kirk was hardly just some eccentric circus performer. His skills as an instrumentalist (not to mention as a songwriter) are apparent throughout "(I, Eye, Aye)," an astonishing live document.

Often written off by mainstream jazz fans as a dissonant experimentalist, Kirk is actually quite restrained here, opening with flowing flute piece "Seasons" before moving on to soulful multi-reed selection "Balm in Gilead."

Signature Kirk tune "Volunteered Slavery" takes on even greater stature in the concert setting, as the leader takes his band -- and the crowd -- on a wild ride through the Beatles' "Hey Jude" coda and beyond by song's end.

To fully appreciate Rahsaan Roland Kirk's unique approach to jazz, track down "The One-Man Twins," the video version of the same Montreux Festival outing.

But you don't need to see Kirk to appreciate his inventiveness. As "(I, Eye, Aye)" makes clear, hearing is also believing.

Artist: Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Title: "(I, Eye, Aye)."

Year of release: 1996 (Rhino Records).

Tracklisting: "Rahsaantalk 1," "Seasons," "Rahsaantalk 2," "Balm in Gilead," "Volunteered Slavery," "Rahsaantalk 3," "Blue Rol No. 2," "Solo Piece: Satin Doll/Improvisation," "Serenade to a Cuckoo," "Pedal Up."