Rahsaan Roland Kirk certainly took the term “multi-instrumentalist” to heart, sometimes playing three saxophones at once while rounding out his sound with clarinets and flutes (not to mention literal “bells and whistles”). Born in the Flytown section of Columbus, Ohio, on this day in 1935, he died in 1977 at just 42 years old after suffering a second stroke.
Also born today:
Jazz guitarist George Van Eps (1913-1998) — born in Plainfield, NJ.
B.J. Thomas — born 1942 in Hugo, Oklahoma — best known for the Grammy-nominated 1970 #1 hit “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” featured in the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
