The Inflated Tear

The Inflated Tear marks a personal and creative breakthrough for Roland Kirk. It was his first effort for Atlantic (the label that would be his home during the prime of his career) and the first produced by Joel Dorn, who would become Kirk’s collaborator and loyal supporter. In the grand tradition of Duke Ellington, the album is a panoply of musical settings and moods. Its ambitious scope was meant to silence critics who had written off Kirk—and particularly his multi-horn technique—as an embarrassing novelty. Here, Kirk’s arsenal of instruments is employed with all the vigor and expertise of a painter surrounded by brushes of different shapes and sizes. The music is by turns sober and witty; frolicsome and dejected; celebratory and brooding. When Kirk uses one of his self-invented horns—as he does on “Lovellevelliloqui,” which employs his patented manzello—the effect may be playful, but it's nothing like a novelty. This is a work of freedom, pride, and integrity. Its spiritualistic underpinnings place it alongside canonical works from the same era by John Coltrane and Charles Mingus.