Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7, 1935[1] – December 5, 1977) was a blind American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments. He was perhaps best known for his vitality on stage, where virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting and his famous ability to play a number of instruments simultaneously.
Kirk was born Ronald Theodore Kirk[1] in Columbus, Ohio, but felt compelled by a dream to transpose two letters in his first name to make Roland. He went blind at an early age due to poor medical treatment. In 1970, Kirk added "Rahsaan" to his name after hearing it in a dream.
Preferring to lead his own groups, Kirk rarely performed as a sideman, although he did record with arranger Quincy Jones, drummer Roy Haynes and had especially notable stints with bassist Charles Mingus. His best-known performance is probably the lead flute and solo on Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", a 1964 hit song repopularized in the Austin Powers films (Jones 1964; McLeod et al. 1997).