1973 · Album
Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle
Recorded 1973 · Atlantic · Produced by Joel Dorn
Kirk's Most Experimental Hour
Kirk's nose flute and multiple horns swarm over drones in his most audacious late work.
By 1973, Rahsaan Roland Kirk had already spent two decades reinventing what a reed player could be — playing three saxophones at once, mastering the nose flute, leading wild ensembles. Prepare Thyself to Deal With a Miracle (1973) sits at the end of his career and finds him doubling down on controlled chaos. This is Kirk doing something he hadn't quite attempted before: layering orchestral strings and horns around harmonic drones, letting his multiple instruments float over sustained textures rather than driving through conventional changes.
The sound is dense and often disorienting. Charles McGhee on trumpet, Dick Griffin on trombone, and a string section anchored by Kermit Moore on cello create a thickly woven backdrop. Kirk moves through it playing tenor, soprano, clarinet, and the nose flute—not soloing in the traditional sense, but weaving in and out like another orchestral voice. Ralph MacDonald and Sonny Brown handle percussion with restraint, letting the drones breathe. Robert Shy's drumming sits back; this is not a swinging date. AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek called it "yet another criminally underappreciated Rahsaan Roland Kirk recording from the last phase of a remarkable career," and the "most experimental recording" in that it puts Kirk's technical gifts in service of something stranger than bebop or funk fusion.
The album's title carries weight. This is Kirk preparing listeners for something—not easy listening, not straight-ahead jazz, but a vision of where he wanted to take music in his final years. It's worth seeking out specifically for how unlike his earlier work it sounds, even as every sound on it bears his unmistakable stamp.
Who's playing
Henry Pearsonbass
Ron Burtonpiano
Charles McGheetrumpet
Dick Griffintrombone
Robert Shydrums
Sonny Brownpercussion
Ralph MacDonaldpercussion
Sanford Allenviolin
Julien Barberviolin
Al Brownviola
Selwart Clarkeviolin
Gayle Dixonviolin
Kermit Moorecello
Harry Smylescor anglais
