Been listening to Roland Kirk's Volunteered Slavery album today and totally wowed by it. I love the choir vocals on "Spirits Up Above" and "Search for the Reason Why" and the spoken/sung chant of the title song. Equally brilliant are the covers of "My Cherie Amour" and "Say A Little Prayer" as well as Kirk's own "One Ton" and the live tribute to John Coltrane.

The upbeat, energetic feel of the album is what I'm searching for in other albums, along with a mix of vocals (sung, spoken, sung by a choir if it's done as well as it's done here) and instrumentals (originals and covers). Throw some suggestions my way, I'll be most grateful.

Talk about a concidence, c., but I've been listening to Volunteered Slavery the last week, too. It sure is a jaw-dropper.

Off the top of my head, it would be hard to point to another, single album that is completely similar, but I can think of a number that touch on the various elements you like. I don't know the extend of your own jazz listening, so you may already have plenty from these artists, so I'll just suggest a few names.

Taken as a whole, Volunteered Slavery reminds me more of Sun Ra than anybody else. I also think you might find some of the Art Ensemble of Chicago albums to your liking. To a lesser degree, some of Charles Mingus' albums have a similar sound.

Two specific albums that might also satisfy are Donald Byrd's A New Perspective, which features a choir, albeit a far more mannered one than Kirk's. Charlie Haden's third Liberation Music Orchestra album Dream Keeper is perhaps a bit closer, but is sadly out of print.

Finally, I've been playing catch up with a lot of 2005 albums that got past me and have come across one that has not only really wowed me, but offers the sort of mix of originals and covers you're looking for, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's The Sameness of Difference on Hyena. Their covers of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" and the Flaming Lips' "The Spark That Bled" make the album well worth the price of admission and in a perfect world would leave folks asking, "The Bad Plus, who?"

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Hey, thanks for the suggestions, Linn. Actually, I have no recordings from the names you've mentioned. Yet. I have wanted to give Sun Ra a listen for a long time but have never been sure where to start or what would be best to my liking. Your list does give me a good place to start. I'm probably more cautious about what I purchase in jazz as it's an area I'm still exploring.

You're very welcome, c.

I'll think a bit further on some specifics from Sun Ra and Charles Mingus. Both catalogs are sufficiently large and varied that it would be easy to pick out something that while representative, isn't as similar to the Kirk disc as you would like.

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