10. Roland KirkWe Free Kings
Another really incredible musician. I was learning to play the flute and also learning the saxophone at the time. I listened to people like Jethro Tull and I thought Ian Anderson had borrowed so much from Roland Kirk, and yet he’s kind of an unsung hero really. I saw Roland Kirk at Ronnie Scott’s club and he was playing three saxes at the same time with a couple of flutes up his nose. He’s such an awesome character and player and I thought, "Wow." Coupled with the fact that he’s blind, you wonder how he does it. I was playing a gig at the Roundhouse and I invited him to come and jam with me. He didn’t unfortunately, but I would have loved it if he had done. Playing the three saxophones at once is so clever. He plays an alto, a tenor and a baritone or something, plays harmonies to each other and plays in unison, plays a whole orchestration, and it’s all just spontaneous.
