Roland Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7th, 1935 - December 5th, 1977) was a blind American jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once. Kirk was born Ronald Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. After another dream about 1970 he added Rahsaan to his name. Kirk played and collected a vast number of musical instruments, mainly various saxophones, clarinets and flutes. His main instruments were tenor saxophone, and two obscure saxophones: the manzello (similar to a soprano sax) and the stritch (a straight alto sax lacking the instrument's characteristic upturned bell). Kirk modified these instruments himself to accommodate his simultaneous playing technique. He typically appeared on stage with all three horns hanging around his neck, as well as a variety of other instruments, including flutes and whistles. Kirk also played harmonica, english horn, recorders and was a competent trumpeter. He often had unique approaches, using a saxophone mouthpiece on a trumpet or playing nose flute. He additionally used many extramusical sounds in his art, such as alarm clocks, whistles, sirens, and even primitive electronic sounds (before such things became commonplace).

Watch Roland Kirk performing his magic.

Wikipedia article.

Via.

On Space Says: He is magic.

... we admit we started off too slow because I was looking at my piano player and I did smoke a little bit too much ... I was totally blind when I came on here ...

Roland's Opening Remarks (Volunteered Slavery)