Sound??

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, oil on canvas, 10x20"

Some of Dick Fontaine's recordings of Rahsaan Roland Kirk for his film Sound?? belong to my favorite tidbits I know of him. Partly because it comes with visuals, it's a film alright, Kirk seems to embody the spirit of the freedom of sound, where the film is about. The film is based on ideas of John Cage, and Cage himself narrates the film, but Cage himself is not able to liberate "sound" yet (in the movie at least,) and leaves it to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Cage is as a narrator not the person you want to listen to, to become enlightened by new ideas about music. Cage, as a narrator, is one I skip over to get to the good parts in the movie, which belong to Kirk. Similarly, when Cage appears on a record with Sun Ra, another great visionary of free jazz, it is the side with Cage that remains in mint condition, whereas the Sun Ra side is worn down. John Cage is not a fan of recorded music, as music ought to be experienced as a time-piece, but even recordings are unique in the moment; an owl hooting from outside, a scratch on the record, another music recording coming from the room next-door, a different mood, all these random chance events add to the listening experience of the record, or film. When Cage exclaims: "Why don't they just shut up" in Sound??, I feel like he's talking to himself, talking over the "sounds" of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.