1972 · Album
A Meeting of the Times
Recorded March 1972, New York City · Atlantic Records · Produced by Joel Dorn
Two Voices, One Respect: Kirk Meets Hibbler
Kirk plays respectfully behind Hibbler on standards, then breaks loose on wild instrumentals alone.
When A Meeting of the Times (1972) arrived in December, it landed quietly—a pairing that looked strange on paper. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the multi-reed virtuoso known for his wild, uncompromising sound, paired with Al Hibbler, Duke Ellington's former ballad singer working deep into his later years. The Penguin Guide to Jazz recognized it immediately with a four-star rating plus their special Crown accolade, and AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow caught what made it work: Kirk knew Ellington's music inside out and could accompany Hibbler respectfully without losing his own fire.
The record sits on a knife's edge. With Hank Jones on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Grady Tate on drums, Kirk holds back on the standards, letting Hibbler's eccentric phrasing float across tasteful arrangements. Hibbler's voice had not been recorded much by this point, and he sounds centered, unhurried. Then Kirk takes off on "Carney and Bigard Place" as a solo instrumental—suddenly the full voltage returns, the woodwinds shrieking and wailing exactly as audiences expected from him.
This is not Kirk playing safe or Hibbler being dragged into modernism. It is two jazz musicians from different eras meeting on common ground, each bringing their own sensibility without pretending to be someone else. The session shows Kirk's range: he could be a fierce soloist and a sympathetic accompanist in the same afternoon.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
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Blacknuss 1972
Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata 1971
Boogie-Woogie String Along for Real 1978
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
