RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK — Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle (review)

RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK — Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle album cover Album · 1973 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Rexorcist
Roland switches between more avant-garde pieces and more spiritual pieces. We get an incredible calm on Seasons right after an uneccesarily repetitive and somewhat lacking opener which feels experimental for the sake of it. This ars gratia artis behavior largely succeeds when atmosphere comes into place. But even though Seasons is an improvement over the opener, while the calm is beautiful, sometimes it can be a little too much, as if there's really not much diversification between each part of a song. So in the end our experience is mostly ups and downs. Celestial Bliss is a different track, using a little bit of funk to create a tribal and rustic feel, like listening to some friends play jazz around a campfire. It had its charm throughout the whole track.

The second half is made up of one 20-minute track: Saxophone Concerto, which is also divided into three connected sections. The first of these is Saxophone Miracle, which is hardly miraculous and more standard for avant-garde compositions. It's a nice beat but that's about it. In fact, it feels more like post-bop by complete accident. This is fixed after about six-and-a-half minutes when the music becomes more hypnotic and nocturnal on the second third, One Breath Beyond. Unfortunately, this section eventually just focuses on repitition for mood, and gets overdone. The third act, Dance of Revolution, brings out the free jazz and keeps things both serene and complex, bringing the epic to a good close.

Overall, the whole album was fairly well put together but still left me wanting. The first half gradually got better, but the second half wasn't as well-written as it could've been.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Bow Code Post-Fusion Contemporary
SAMPO HIUKKANEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anthem For No Man’s Land Jazz Related Improv/Composition
ANDREAS SCHAERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cabaret Eclectic Fusion
MARIUS NESET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Living Ghosts Post-Fusion Contemporary
MICHAEL WOLLNY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Live at Donte's, Vol. 1 Vocal Jazz
MIKE CAMPBELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Sunday afternoon
FURIO DI CASTRI
snobb· 8 hours ago
Harmônicos
FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO
js· 22 hours ago
Con Alma
GENE BERTONCINI
js· 1 day ago
Our Walk (Live)
BEN MARKLEY
js· 1 day ago
Solar (feat. Vicente Archer & Otis Brown III)
JERRY LÉONIDE
js· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed