Jazz 825: Mandala play Roland Kirk

MANDALA are the local six-piece group who have brought several projects to the JCUK, including their performance of the classic Art Blakey album Ugetsu, and their brilliant exploration of the legacy of Carla Bley last year. Their performance today will unveil some exciting new material....

They have turned their attention this year to the colourful figure of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the great, blind multi-instrumentalist active from the 50s to the 70s, whose music drew on the whole variety of jazz history – and on sources beyond jazz, too. Kirk would perform with three horns around his neck, often playing two- even three- simultaneously. His main instruments were the tenor saxophone and flute, and (saxophone variants) the manzello and stritch. He was noted for his showmanship and urge to involve audiences in the performance- Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, who derived his flute style from Kirk, spoke of him as a…