Rahsaan

Jazz has always been known for its eccentric characters. There was pianist Thelonious Monk, who would sometimes stop playing in the middle of a solo, leap to his feet and begin dancing, Why? Just because. There was Sun Ra, who claimed to be from another planet (generally Saturn).

But perhaps the most eccentric, as well as arguably one of the most talented, was Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Kirk played a variety of instruments, some of his own design, often simultaneously. A one man horn section, he could play three different horns at once — fingering one with his left hand, one with his right, and playing a drone note on the third. He was a walking encyclopedia of jazz, with his solos spanning the range from Dixieland to Duke Ellington to bop to what we would now call post modern, a genre that Kirk pioneered.

A master of circular breathing, a technique that enabled him to play without pausing for breath, Kirk could be both lyrical and intense, often at the same time, hilarious and jaw droppingly ground breaking. (He could also play through his nose as well as his mouth.)

Ian Anderson's (Jethro Tull) flute technique is a third-rate Kirk imitation. Entire horn sections have tried to duplicate Kirk's feats, and it took a three-man section to do it.

Kirk's music was both deep and joyous. If you want the history of jazz in one package, one of his anthologies might fit the bill.