Gifts and Messages

Ronnie Scott had met multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk on a visit to the Half Note Club in New York City in July 1963 and eventually managed to get Roland into his Gerard Street club in London in the early winter of the following year. Some of his performances were captured on tape by producer Les Tomkins, who had this to say: 'The thing to say about this extraordinary performer is that the jazz he produces is vital, creative, full of unusual and expected elements-all highly stimulating for the audience. His blindness makes everything he does that much more remarkable.'