Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Boogie Woogie String Along For Real '1977

Tracks list

The final album Rahsaan Roland Kirk ever recorded remains one of his finest.
Post-stroke, Kirk struggled with his conception of the music he was trying to
make. Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real is the payoff. The title track
features strings playing distended harmonics over his blowing and the backing of
a guttersnipe rhythm section and a full-blown horn section — including a
very young trombonist named Steve Turre — behind him. From here, Kirk
works veritable magic with the material of the age, swimming deeply in the blues
that Gershwin didnt know he had in I Loves You Porgy, getting an aging Tiny
Grimes to wail his guitar-playing ass off on Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor, and
then flowing elegantly on Ellingtons In a Mellow Tone and Gershwins Summertime.
Its almost too much to bear as the emotions come falling from the horn and the
rhythm section tries to keep them balanced, but the heartbreak and joy are
everywhere. When Kirk closes the disc with his own stomping hard-swing R&B of
Dorthaans Walk (dedicated to his wife) and takes it out with Percy Heaths
Watergate Blues, he closes the circle. With Hilton Ruiz playing a deep-grooved
Latin funk against Kirks harmonica and alto, Heath playing cello, and Turre
opening up a huge space of feeling behind the front line as Sonny Brown and Phil
Bowler keep it all in check on drums and bass respectively, Kirk sums it all up
in his alto solo. There is so much sadness, betrayal, pain, and resolve in his
lines that the rules of Western music no longer apply. The all-inclusive vision
Kirk has of a music embraces all emotions and attitudes and leaves no one
outside the door. This is Kirks Black Classical Music, and it is fully realized
on this final track and album. ~ Thom Jurek

Tracklist:
1 01. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real (08:52)
1 02. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - I Loves You Porgy (01:52)
1 03. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Make Me a Pallet on the Floor (07:16)
1 04. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Hey Babebips (05:07)
1 05. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - In a Mellow Tone (06:15)
1 06. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Summertime (01:40)
1 07. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Dorthaans Walk (07:11)
1 08. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Watergate Blues (06:36)

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