Inflated Tear

CD reissue. The Inflated Tear is a studio album by Rashaan Roland Kirk, released in 1968. Kirk quotes New Orleans-esque funeral marches, early bebop, he even covers Ellington's The Creole Love Calls, and, at times, it seems like he's quoting himself. The album opens with The Black And Crazy Blues, a New Orleans dirge with modern elements which is followed by A Laugh For Rory, a fun upbeat cool jazz number on the flutes. The Inflated Tear sounded like the entire spectrum of the history of African-American music rolled into one four-minute song, old slavery spirituals, work songs, field hollers, soul, modern jazz, and early blues. The Inflated Tear is one of his most popular albums and regarded as his magnum opus.