Description
On September 30, 1963, American saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk and his quartet gave a small concert in the TV studios of Radio Bremen. The concert was broadcast on ARD in the spring of 1964 as part of the popular "Domino" series.
Now the original tapes have resurfaced in the station's archives. Sensational! The former sideman of Charles Mingus, Gil Evans and Quincy Jones had come to Germany not only with his successful Mercury albums "Domino" and "We Free Kings" in his luggage, but also with a great accompanying combo: Swiss pianist George Gruntz, known for his work with Klaus Doldinger, Louis Armstrong and Don Cherry, shone with his sensitive playing. French bassist Guy Pedersen (who has played with Baden Powell, Michel Legrand and Quincy Jones, among others) and Swiss drummer Daniel Humair (who has played with Joachim Kuhn and Jean Luc Ponty, among others) provided the rhythm.
Roland Kirk, who went blind at the age of two, mainly played the tenor saxophone and two historical variants of the saxophone, namely the Manzello (actually a modified King saxophone) and the Stritch (actually a Buscher eB alto saxophone in straight form, equipped with additional keys for one-handed playing and an enlarged bell). He often played these three instruments at the same time and demonstrated this art during the recordings in the Bremen studio.
The director of this memorable performance was none other than Mike Leckebusch, and this Domino production is said to have been his first directorial effort. Leckebusch went on to make German television history with his shows "Beat-Club" (from 1965) and "Musikladen" (from 1972).