Jaki Byard – “Parisian Thoroughfare”
Jaki Byard – “Memories Of You”
From “The Jaki Byard Experience” : 1968 : Prestige PR 7615
It is easy to see why Jaki Byard’s collaboration with Roland Kirk (in his pre-Rahsaan days) resulted in one of his finest albums. Besides being one of the great unsung pianists in jazz history, Byard’s solo output is often overlooked in comparison with his contemporaries. The album opener, the Bud Powell classic Parisian Thoroughfare, starts off like a fist fight between the band, but then evolves into a beautiful and emotional rendition of the oft-covered tune. Shine on Me is a traditional early jazz tune given a nice modern twist, while the real gem of the album might be the duet between Byard and Kirk on the standard Memories of You (check out Kirk’s tone on the saxophone!). It is obvious that these two ultra-talented guys enjoyed and respected each other’s company in the studio and it really comes through both on the duet and the album as a whole.
Players:
Jaki Byard – Piano
Roland Kirk – Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Manzello, Whistle, Kirkbam
Richard Davis – Bass
Alan Dawson – Drums
Thanks for this. A terrific group of musicians, and a ‘fist fight’ indeed, but what a fantastic replication of Paris traffic. I am not familiar with this record, although Ben Ratliff includes it in his book of 100 important jazz albums:
http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Essential-Library/dp/0805070680
Kirk, as always, is incredible. I have a dozen of his albums (and was fortunate enough to see him live a few times), but I’ve never seen the kirkbam listed in liner notes before. The Internet doesn’t provide any information about it, either; I wonder what it was, exactly.
I have only ever seen the “kirkbam” listed in 2 spots: this album and the double LP “Pre-Rahsaan”, which is a 70′s compilation of this album and Kirk’s own
“Kirk’s Work” from 1961. I also have not been able to find any info on exactly what it is, although Kirk played quite a bit of percussion on his albums starting around this time, so perhaps it is an instrument of his own making…