release date: 28.11.2025 on Resonance Records
RESONANCE RECORDS DEBUTS PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD LIVE RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK PERFORMANCE VIBRATIONS IN THE VILLAGE: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE ON RSD BLACK FRIDAY 2025!
Two-LP Set Due November 28 Features the Multi-Instrumentalist in Full Flight on a Storming 1963 Set with Pianists Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne and Jane Getz. Deluxe Package, Also Out on CD December 5, Includes Detailed Notes by Kirk Biographer John Kruth, Recollections from Getz, Appreciations from Jazz Greats James Carter, Steve Turre, and Chico Freeman, and More…
The wildly imaginative instrumental genius of multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk will be heard on a newly unearthed 1963 recording from New York’s Village Gate, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate. Released in cooperation with Dorthaan Kirk of the musician’s estate, the high-energy set features the phenomenal, sightless musician on his arsenal of reeds and flute. He is supported on a mix of originals and standards by a rhythm section of a bassist Henry Grimes, drummer Sonny Brown, and a battery of pianists — Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne, and Jane Getz. The deluxe package includes detailed notes by biographer John Kruth; remembrances from Dorthaan Kirk and Getz; and appreciations of Kirk by saxophonists James Carter and Chico Freeman, trombonist Steve Turre, musician Adam Dorn (aka Mocean Worker), son of Kirk’s late producer Joel Dorn, and novelist and avowed fan May Cobb. With sound restoration and mastering by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab, the LP edition will be released on 180-gram vinyl pressed by Le Vinylist in Quebec, Canada.
Resonance co-president Zev Feldman, who produced the set, says of its genesis, “In 1963, a filmmaker was working on a documentary about Rahsaan and his life. Unfortunately, the name of the filmmaker is lost to us today. Engineer Ivan Berger had been hired to record performances at The Village Gate, which they planned to use in film. Before the film could be finished, the filmmaker passed away and the documentary was never made. Sixty years later, Berger contacted audiophile speaker fabricator Jeff Joseph and said, ‘I have these tapes. What am I supposed to do with them?’ Yet another story of how important recordings were made, lost and through some miracle eventually came to light.”
© Jean-Pierre Leloir
Dorthaan Kirk, the musician’s widow, says, “I am elated that this music will be out for the world to hear. In December, Rahsaan will have been dead for 48 years. I dare say, his name is probably right up there with Coltrane or Dizzy or some of the others.”
Writer Kruth says of the fabled setting for this exciting date, “Art D’Lugoff opened The Gate in 1958 and ran it until 1994 (that’s 36 years!). The man knew what he was doing. Beyond the Fillmore East, the Gate produced the best live albums that ever graced a turntable — Nina Simone, Bill Evans, Herbie Mann, Thelonious Monk, and Albert Ayler (to name a few) all dug the vibe and brought their best to that joint unencumbered. And now we have evidence of Roland Kirk (in his pre-Rahsaan days) doing the same.”
Getz — who was visiting her friend Grimes at the Gate and was asked to sit in on the spot — recalls, “It was comfortable playing with Roland. Even though he couldn’t see me, he read my vibe. He was very nice, just a very warm person. I still see the image in my mind of me playing this big grand piano with a lot of instruments in front of it, and him standing at the foot of it listening.”
Sax titan Carter marvels, “Rahsaan was a walking miracle. You can’t help thinking, here’s somebody who’s visually impaired, yet he’s got something instead of the vision he’s lost….He couldn’t see, but it seemed to enable him to put more energy into what his mind, what his dreams were telling him he could do.”
Freeman spins a wonderful formative anecdote: “I love Rahsaan. He was a mentor. Early on, he gave me one really big lesson. He was playing in Chicago and I wanted to sit in with him. I was nervous, but I asked him and he said yes. On the bandstand, I imagined he’d play a blues or some standard I knew. No. He called [John Coltrane’s challenging composition] ‘Giant Steps!’ I didn’t know ‘Giant Steps.’ I’m thinking, ‘I thought you were my friend!’ He put me on that stage and I struggled, but I made it through ‘Giant Steps.’ He told me, ‘You always have to be ready.’ He didn’t do that to show me up; he did it to teach me a life lesson.”
Turre, who became a Kirk enthusiast at an early age, reflects, “I got from Rahsaan the idea that jazz music in particular is something that brings all people together. If your spirit was right, he was there for you….He was deep.”
Adam Dorn notes, “This release would very much be Joel Dorn-approved, as you’re holding in your hands the masterwork of Zev Feldman, a great producer and a real friend. Zev has carried on with excellence the great work of producers like my father. He understands the importance of this work.”
Cobb adds, “This gorgeous set marks an important moment, the next log on the fire, a kindling of the flames of the Rahsaainasance, a legacy that has been carefully and fastidiously tended to by his widow, the truly wonderful and wondrous powerhouse, Dorthaan Kirk. This new release will not only delight Rah’s oldest fans, but perchance will reach a whole new generation and audience.”
In addition to Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate, Resonance will also release another Kirk gem, the 1967 date Seek and Listen: Live at the Penthouse, as a 2-LP RSD Black Friday vinyl exclusive.
Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning label (most recently for John Coltrane’s Offering: Live at Temple University for “Best Album Notes”) that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance’s catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. Current Resonance Artists include Tawanda, Eddie Daniels, Tamir Hendelman, Christian Howes and Donald Vega. www.ResonanceRecords.org