Stritching Out
“Manzello & Stritch” sounds like the title of a ’70s cop show, but in the hands of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, these unusual variations on the saxophone were vehicles in an arresting display of musical innovation. If the two instruments now seem obscure, it’s worth noting that the sax itself was once an outlier, failing to catch on fully with the classical orchestras for which it was invented. It took nearly a century for jazz musicians to demonstrate the true potential of Adolphe Sax’s eponymous creation.
