The Case of the Three Sided Dream.

Format:

Video

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jazz.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Life histories.

Social activism and activists.

Jazz music.

Music.

Kirk, Rahsaan Roland,.

Local Subjects:

Jazz.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Life histories.

Social activism and activists.

Jazz music.

Music.

Kirk, Rahsaan Roland,.

Genre:

Documentary

Physical Description:

1 online resource (88 minutes)

Other Title:

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The Case of the Three Sided Dream

Place of Publication:

Paris, Ile-de-France : Qwest TV, 2014.

Language Note:

In English.

Original language in English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

Produced in 2014 by filmmaker Adam Kahan, the 90-minute feature documentary The Case of the Three Sided Dream reveals the unique jazz life of multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk through black-and-white archival footage and multiple interviews with artists who worked with him. Also featured is his wife Dorthaan Kirk who carried his vision of sonic possibilities in the jazz world after his 1977 death at the young age of 42 following his debilitating stroke there years earlier. Rahsaan was blind, but the film captures him proving that that didn’t impede him in his pursuit to explore the power of sound. Known to be idiosyncratic in the way he approached music on his tenor saxophone, stritch, magello and clarinet by playing them simultaneously to achieve over-sized harmonies with power. A few critics called it a gimmick, but those in the know recognized him as a genius. He said he was only playing what he had heard in a dream. He also played flute to create the lyrical beauty, whether he covered Duke Ellington tunes (“Mood Indigo) or pop hits (Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour”). He protested on the Dick Cavett daytime talk show as a “jazz militant,” delivered his original “Serenade to a Cuckoo” on BBC TV, spectacularly appeared on the nationally broadcast The Ed Sullivan Show in 1971 where he again surprisingly broke from the norm. The producers wanted him to play “Ma Cherie Amour” because they thought it was tame enough for the huge audience at home. Instead, Rahsaan featured his entire band in a “true black” artist showcase on the raucous song “The Inflated Tears & Haitian Fight Song” that included Roy Haynes on drums and Charles Mingus on bass. The extroverted Rahsaan rocks the house. Interviews with his one-time bandmates included Steve Turre and Akua Dixon. At heart, the iconic Rahsaan was an outspoken black activist whose music crossed genre boundaries that inspire artists today, from avant jazz players to rock stars. Dan Ouellette

Notes:

Title from resource description page (viewed July 16, 2025).