Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Rahsaan- The Complete Mercury Recordings O ^new^ Direct

Spanning from , this collection captures Kirk’s evolution from a young iconoclast into a formidable bandleader and virtuoso. The Core of the Collection

Dorn stopped the tape. The engineer asked, “Should we do another take?” Dorn said, “No. That’s the last word.”

There are jazz box sets that compile everything an artist did for a label—the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Rahsaan: The Complete Mercury Recordings is different. You cannot find a weak track. You cannot find a moment of apathy. Rahsaan Roland Kirk played every note on these recordings as if his life depended on it, because, in a way, it did. He was fighting for the soul of jazz—to keep it rooted in the blues while launching it into the sun.

The Complete Mercury Recordings forces you to experience the evolution . You start with the high-energy, post-Coltrane fury of 1965, drift into the melancholic poetry of 1967, and rewind to the avant-flute solipsism of 1964. By the end of the second disc, you don't feel like you've listened to a box set; you feel like you've lived inside Rahsaan’s head for a week. Spanning from , this collection captures Kirk’s evolution

A reissue is only "complete" if it shows the sculpting process. This box set includes several alternate takes (notably for "Rip, Rig and Panic" and "The Haunted Melody").

Other tracks from this period: “The Creole Love Call” (Duke Ellington’s ghost in a stranglehold), “A Laugh for Rory” (a eulogy for a friend, played on flute and nose flute simultaneously), “Three for the Festival” (a carnival of circular breathing that sounds like ten people dancing in wooden shoes).

: Insights into Kirk's multi-instrumental technique (playing the manzello, stritch, and tenor sax simultaneously) and his relationship with producer Quincy Jones. That’s the last word

But if you put your ear to the speaker — just barely — you can still feel him there. Three horns strapped to his chest. A blindfold over sightless eyes. Smiling into the dark, playing a future no one else could hear.

By 1971, Kirk had legally changed his name to Rahsaan Roland Kirk — “Rahsaan” being a spiritual name he claimed came to him in a dream. His Mercury output deepened. He recorded Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata — an album of solo multi-instrumental pieces. One track, “Old Rugged Cross,” was recorded in a darkened studio at 3 AM. Kirk played only percussion: thimbles on a table, a chain dropped on the floor, his own heartbeat tapped on his chest. Then he whispered the melody through a flute held sideways.

For collectors and deep divers, the holy grail of his recorded output has long been the period between 1963 and 1965, when he was signed to Mercury Records. This era is captured in the monumental box set, . Released by Mercury/PolyGram in 1990 (and reissued digitally since), this 2-CD or 3-LP collection is not merely a reissue; it is a literary artifact that charts the metamorphosis of a sideman into a movement. You cannot find a moment of apathy

Dorn later wrote in the liner notes: “Rahsaan didn’t play music. He became weather.”

Featuring stellar collaborations with giants like Herbie Hancock , Wynton Kelly , and Roy Haynes .