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Steve Turre Sextet: Spirit of Rahsaan Roland Kirk 8/29-9/3 at Dizzy's |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Friday, 25 August 2006 |
 Steve Turre
On August 29th through September 3rd, Dizzy's presents the Steve Turre Sextet: Spirit of Rahsaan
Roland Kirk. Featuring Steve Turre, trombone; Billy
Harper, tenor saxophone; Vincent Herring, alto saxophone; Mulgrew
Miller, piano; Gerald Cannon, bass; Dion Parson, drums; plus special
guest Dave Valentin, flute.
Trombonist and seashellist Steve Turre,
has consistently won both the Readers' and Critics' polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for Best Trombone and for
Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells). Turre was born to
Mexican-American parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area
where he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues and jazz. While
attending Sacramento State University, he joined the Escovedo Brothers
salsa band, which began his career-long involvement with that genre.
 Steve Turre
In 1972 Steve Turre's career picked up momentum when Ray Charles hired
him to go on tour. A year later Turre's mentor Woody Shaw brought him
into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After his tenure with Blakey, Turre
went on to work with a diverse list of musicians from the jazz, Latin,
and pop worlds, including Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson,
Herbie Hancock, Lester Bowie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Van
Morrison, Pharoah Sanders, Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Rahsaan Roland
Kirk. The latter introduced hum to the seashell as an instrument. Soon
after that, while touring in Mexico City with Woody Shaw, Turre's
relatives informed him that his ancestors similarly played the shells.
Since then, Turre has incorporated seashells into his diverse musical
style.
 Cyrus Chestnut
 Vincent Herring
Born in the South Bronx in 1952 to Puerto Rican parents from the city
of Mayaguez, Dave Valentin
studied percussion at New York City's High School of Music and Art
before taking up the flute at the age of 16. Private lessons with
master jazz and classical flutist Hubert Laws and early professional
work with some of the leading Latin bands of the day quickly
established the young musician as a rising star on his instrument. In
1979 Valentin recorded his first album as a leader, initiating an
successful and long-running association with GRP, a contemporary jazz
label noted for its all-star roster and pioneering role in digital
recording technology. The partnership produced 16 albums and solidified
Valentin's position as one of the best selling Latin instrumental
artists of the era, as documented by a Grammy nomination and selection
by the readers of JAZZIZ Magazine for six consecutive years as the top
flutist in jazz.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Bio from
Wikipedia.org)
Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, but felt
compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make
Roland. After another dream about 1970 he added Rahsaan to his name.
 Rahsaan Roland Kirk
His playing was generally rooted in soul jazz or hard bop, but Kirk's
knowledge of jazz history allowed him to draw on many elements of the
music's history, from ragtime to Swing and free jazz. Kirk also
regularly explored classical and pop music.
Kirk played and collected a number of musical instruments, mainly
various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His main instruments were
tenor saxophone, and two obscure saxophones: the manzello (similar to a
soprano sax) and the stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the
instrument's characteristic upturned bell). Kirk modified these
instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique.
He typically appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his
neck, as well as a variety of other instruments, including flutes and
whistles. Kirk also played harmonica, english horn, recorders and was a
competent trumpeter. He often had unique approaches, using a saxophone
mouthpiece on a trumpet or playing nose flute. He additionally used
many extramusical sounds in his art, such as alarm clocks, whistles,
sirens, and even primitive electronic sounds (before such things became
commonplace).
Kirk was also an influential flautist, employing several techniques
that he developed himself. One technique was to sing or hum 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.
Some observers thought that Kirk's bizarre onstage appearance and
simultaneous multi-instrumentalism were just gimmicks, especially when
coming from a blind man, but these opinions usually vanished when Kirk
actually started playing. 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
mind.
Kirk was also a major exponent and practitioner of circular breathing.
Circular breathing is when a wind player exhales through the horn's
mouthpiece while simultaneously inhaling through the nose. Using this
technique, Kirk was not only able to sustain a single note for a
virtually any length of time, he could also play sixteenth-note runs of
almost unlimited length, and at high speeds.
On August 29th through September 3rd, Dizzy's presents the Steve Turre Sextet: Spirit of Rahsaan
Roland Kirk.
Featuring Steve Turre, trombone; Billy Harper, tenor saxophone; Vincent
Herring, alto saxophone; Mulgrew Miller, piano; Gerald Cannon, bass;
Dion Parson, drums; plus special guest Dave Valentin, flute. For more
info visit www.jalc.org.
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 Tuesday, 07 October 2008
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