Customer Reviews

Bright Moments

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If I were pressed to recommend just one of Rahsaan's albums, "Bright Moments" would get the nod. It captures the magic that he created when he took the stage. His shows were part tour-de-force solos, part histories of jazz, and part good-old-fashioned partying. It's all here on this CD.

"Bright Moments" captures a 1974 show at Keystone Korner in SF. Rahsaan sums up the spirit of the occasion when he says of the Keystone, "It's nice to play in a place that's like your house." The crowd is with him on every note, and he returns the favor with some inspired playing.

Like Miles, Rahsaan had a gift for turning pop music into jazz inspiration. Included here is a marvelous take on the Bacharach/Dionne Warwick tune, "You'll Never Get to Heaven." Later on he shouts, "Y'all wanna go to New Orleans?" and suddenly we are there, listening to him testify about "Dem Red Beans and Rice."

Rahsaan was a jazz historian and we get meditations on Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" and Ellington's "Prelude to a Kiss." And if you want more passion about the music, listen to his poem/harangue "Clickety Clack," in which he exhorts someone -- anyone! -- to "bring the spirit back."

The spirit never died while this giant was alive. Put on the CD and you'll hear the spirit come back -- right into your living room and into your life.

Rahsaan was always very talkative and funny. I first saw him at a small club in Berkeley around 1972. Between sets as he was being led to the front of the club by one of his musicians, I told him I was doing a review of his performance for the college newspaper. He just said, "no falsehoods!"
I got to see him this last time at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1974 and the crowd hung on to every note and every sentence. I remember Rahsaan being very funny especially with his nose flute and the way he'd make rumbling noises when he played the regular flute. And he was always making funny statements during songs such as--"try playing like this, Herbie Mann!" He was a joy to see and hear.

As Mr Kirk's musical/historical life has been well documented, I can only add a few things.

I first heard Rahsaan , listening outside a famous (and now defunkt) Chicago nightclub years years ago, and was one of many musical epifanies I have had the pleasure to experience thru the years.

I rank Rahsaan Roland Kirk as one in my pantheon of musical , almost other worldly inspirations.
(If curious, this includes Hermeto Pascoal, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Coltrane, Mingus, Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, Astor Piazzola, Gil Evans, ..you see the foto unfold, no?

This recording, "ao vivo"(live) is a great chance for those who were not lucky enough to hear the mestre perform, in person or on filme.

This recording gives much time to Rahsaan's priceless onstage verbalisings, revealing even more of his soul and mind than the sounds of his various reeds/winds articulate!

Musically, with his "craque" grupo (longtime associates), there are so many highlights ;

"Pedal Up", a modal homanagem to Coltrane

A luscious "Jitterbug Waltz" , equal parts "tradition" and Kirk's "de-composition" of the Fats Waller classic

As always, Rahsaan mines the great popular musics of Bert Bacharach and burns "You Will Never Get to Heaven"

"Prelude to a Kiss", Rahsaanelligtonia
,and of course his classic "Bright Moments"(talk and "song"!)

First rate Rahsaan , and only 1000000000 stars of course!

At a jazz concert last summer, one of the musicians mentioned Bright Moments, and half the crowd cheered with recognition. This after more than 25 years. A legendary recording, by a master at the peak of his career. Here Rahsaan displays the full range of his powers, from classic renditions like If I Loved You, to brilliantly inventive tunes like Fly Town Nose Blues. His most important album.

This is another one of those recordings that took awhile to turn up in CD, but it was worth the wait. There may be Rahsaan releases that are more significant as jazz works, but this one is full of great and varied tunes, great playing and great times. A good place to start with Rahsaan, and also an excellent example of a live album that really conveys the "feel" of the performance and atmosphere. As a musician and personality, the guy is huge (you don't see a lot of great nose flute players anymore). And a master interpreter. The cover of "You'll Never Get to Heaven" alone is worth the price of admission!!

Not many recordings capture the feeling of a live performance. This one, with Rahsaan talking to the crowd and telling them they "don't feel like Saturday night people", delivers the incredible exchange that he was able to have with his audience. He couldn't see them, but he knew who was out there. The music is rich and varied, standard and at once wild. A beautiful tribute to a master. Bright moments!

THE CD BRIGHT MOMENTS IS A RECORDING OF A LIVE CONCERT THAT RAHSAAN DID IN THE MID-LATE 1970'S WHICH IS HIS MOST CREATVIE AND UNIQUE PERIOD OF HIS MUSIC. I REMEBER WHEN THIS CAME OUT IN THE 1970'S I HAD IT THEN AND I'M GLAD I HAVE A COPY NOW. THIS CD ENCOMPASSES ALL THAT'S GREAT ABOUT RAHSAAN: HIS POETRY, HIS ABILITY TO PLAY MANY DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS (SOMETIMES ALL AT THE SAME TIME), HIS USE OF MULTIMEDIA (SOUNDS EFFECTS) INCORPORATED INTO HIS MUSIC, ABILITY TO INTERPERET ANY KIND OF MUSIC, STANDARDS OR POPULAR MUSIC OF THE DAY, AND HIS UNIQUE VISION THAT HE BRINGS TO THAT MUSIC. I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT LISTEN TO JAZZ THAT DISMISS RAHSAAN, CALLING HIM A ONE TRICK PONY, "Y'NOW THAT GUY THAT PLAYS ALL THOSE INSTRUMENTS AT THE SAME TIME, BUT THAT IS BECASUE THEY HAVE NEVER REALLY SAT DOWN AND LISTENED TO WHAT THE MAN WAS SAYING WITH HIS MUSIC, AND THE WAY HE SAID IT SO DIFFERENTLY FROM ANYONE ELSE. IT WAS INTERESTING TO READ IN AN ARTICLE THE OTHER DAY THAT IAN ANDERSON, THE GREAT FLUTIST AND FRONT MAN FOR THE ROCK BAND JETHRO TULL, CREDITED RAHSAAN AS HIS MAJOR INFLUENCE IN HIS FLUTE PLAYING. I SAW RAHSAAN PLAY LIVE A FEW TIMES AND I AM A FAN FOR LIFE, THE MAN IS JUST ONE OF THOSE RARE INDIVIDUALS THAT JUST OOZED TALENT. EVERY TIME I SAW HIM IT WASN'T JUST A SHOW, IT WAS AN EVENT.

I'm so happy this album is on CD. I was lucky enough to see R.R. Kirk during the same time period with the same band. We were young college students and expected some serious angry black jazz music.... INSTEAD we got to join Rahsaan in his warm joyous educational hysterical jazz party! The buzz from that night lasted for weeks! Well documented on this recording.

The in-between chatter on this recording only adds to the vibe. Hearing Rahsaan's raps almost made me cry now that he's been gone for so long. Pour yourself a cocktail, relax and let Rahsaan take you to his 'Bright Moments' place. You'll enjoy the journey.

Roland Kirk in person was something you just don't forget. He seemed able to do anything, and capable of doing anything. Some of his on stage raps and antics got him thrown out of clubs - flagged for life. "Volunteered Slavery" has some excellent live tracks, as does "Here Comes The Whistle Man", but Bright Moments does the best job of putting you inside the experience of a Rahsaan club date. It's a real musical journey and shows what a marvelous student of jazz he was. From the tasty tribute to Fats Waller, Jitterbug Waltz, to the NOLA visit, Dem Red Beans and Rice, Roland takes you traveling through space and time. The title track is an anthem delivered tenderly on flute, a loving dedication to the entire audience. (Kirk's flute playing ranked him #2 after Dolphy.) When he breaks out You'll Never Get To Heaven, and If I loved You, you can almost hear the club creaking on its foundations, he simply wears them out. Roland got his hat, no more live shows. But thanks to this CD, you can get pretty close.

This is one of the few live R.R. Kirk albums. The music is good, but not exceptional. The problem with the album is the narrative parts. Rashan spends about ten minutes of the album, which could have easily been placed on one CD, innanely rambling about his nose, clickity clack, and president Nixon. If it was on one CD, minus his ramblings, I might rate it four stars.