Booker Ervin Cooks the Books

I have been collecting Booker Ervin recordings for some time now.  Ervin played sax on a number of Mingus recordings, including Mingus Ah Um and Mingus at Antibes (1959 and 1960).  That was the most significant moment in modern jazz. 

Booker Tellefero Ervin II has never received the appreciation due for his fine work as leader.  Oh Wait! He has received it here!  His playing is pure heart.  Everything that makes hard bop great is present in all his recordings.  Tonight I finally got around to buying his first recording as leader, The Book Cooks (1960).  What a snoot-full of wonderful horns.  

• Bass – George Tucker
• Drums – Danny Richmond*
• Piano – Tommy Flanagan
• Tenor Saxophone – Booker Ervin, Zoot Sims
• Trumpet – Tommy Turrentine

I have a special place in my heart for Tommy Flanagan, who playing on many of the first jazz albums I owned.  The same goes for Zoot Sims, whose warm sound could melt the ice off my sidewalk.  
I am playing  'The Blue Book' and the title cut. I snuck in a cut 'Gichi' from Tex Book Tenor. 

I am also playing a cut from Mingus' Blues and Roots, 'Moanin', another horn fest.  

• Bass, Liner Notes – Charles Mingus
• Drums – Dannie Richmond
• Piano – Horace Parlan, Mal Waldron
• Saxophone [Alto] – Jackie McLean, John Handy
• Saxophone [Baritone] – Pepper Adams
• Saxophone [Tenor] – Booker Ervin
• Trombone – Jimmy Knepper, Willie Dennis

That's enough Booker to get you bookin'.  

Tal Farlow

When I purchased my first decent stereo, I was still trying to learn to play the guitar.  I didn't.  I wanted to play jazz guitar, because I admired jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, and Wes Montgomery.  Or maybe it was the other way around.  

Anyway, I read about a set of Verve albums that the label was reissuing.  This was in the mid-eighties.  I think I read about them in Guitar Player.  I managed to get a couple of them.  I was in Grad School at the time, and money was almost as precious as music.  One of the albums was a duet with Jim Hall and Bill Evans.  It was wonderful.  The other was by guitarist Tal Farlow.  I loved both records and listened to them over and over.  

This week I bagged Chromatic Palette, by Farlow with my love Tommy Flanagan on piano and Gary Mazzaroppi on bass.  It is a splendid guitar trio.  It has the same bright spirit as Flanagan's albums with Kenny Burrell.  Here is a sample. 

Tal Farlow/One for My Baby excerpt/Chromatic Palette

Tommy Flanagan

I fell in love with Tommy Flanagan back when my knowledge of jazz was limited to John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Bill Evans.  I had a special affection for Burrell, and I got to see him twice.  It seemed like Flanagan showed up on all my Burrell recordings.  I think Flanagan was a very underrated player.  

Here is one of my favorite pieces, a Flanagan composition.  It is from an album that was originally released under the piano player's name.  I think it has been repackaged under Coltrane's name.  Trane and Burrell play on it.  

Tommy Flanagan/Minor Mishap/The Cats

That's a marvelous piece of joyous jazz.  A similar album was released under the names of Coltrane and Burrell.  It is so bubbly and alive it could talk a man off the edge of a bridge.  You just have to have these two recordings on your shelf.  

Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane/Lyresto/Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane

And don't miss 'Why Was I born?'  and 'Big Paul'.  These will explain to you why you were born. 

Coltrane's Interplay Box

The three box sets of John's Coltrane's Prestige recordings are treasure troves for jazz fans.  The largest and best by far is Fearless Leader.  If you have that one, you have most of Trane's early albums as leader.  Side Steps and Interplay contain Trane's work as a side man and double listed albums, respectively. 

Tonight I have been listening to Interplay, which just arrived in the mail.  Two of the sessions included in the box were one that I have been long familiar with.  I had a double LP that included Cats, with Tommy Flanagan as leader, and Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane.  I think that the former, like Flanagan's piano, has always been unfairly reviewed.  Flanagan was all heart, and he was a great partner behind a lot of Kenny Burrell recordings.  Here is one that has long been a favorite of mine. Burrell is here, along with Idrees Sulieman on trumpet, Doug Watkins on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums.  It was recorded in 1959, which might have been the single most magnificent year in the history of jazz. 

Minor Mishap

A recording I didn't have was Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette.  I don't know Paul Quinichette.  I think that the interplay between the two tenors is well worth listening to.  The incomparable Mal Waldron is on piano, Julian Euell on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums.  Here is a sample:

Vodka

It is interesting to note something about the metaphysics of jazz criticism.  Both of these recordings are solid jazz, and if they had been recorded by some minor league daimon of jazz, they would be justly praised.  But because Trane is playing on them they get compared to the Genesis and Romans of his old and new testaments, and are found wanting.  There is nothing wrong with that, it's just interesting.  If you are a Coltranist, as I surely am, you want to know the whole Bible. 

I am thinking about listening to the Trane corpus chronologically, and posting on that experience.  No promises, but if I do it you can read about it here. 

Close Your Eyes

I mentioned the album Bean Bags, and the number "Close Your Eyes," in my last post. I have had vinyl copy for more than twenty years, but I only snagged the digital copy this week as a result of hearing the same song on the Jarrett Blue Note Album. For a very long time, whenever I thought of jazz, I thought of this one recording.

"Close Your Eyes" was written by Bernice Petkere in 1932. Joe Young wrote lyrics for it. It was first recorded a year later by Ray Noble. I won't offer the lyrics here. They don't really go with the melody, which is rather darker and more moody. It's close your eyes and I'll be gone, not close your eyes and I'll kiss you. It has been recorded many times by many greats, including Jarrett, but I can't imagine a more brilliant interpretation than the one on Bean Bags.

In addition to Coleman Hawkins gorgeous tenor, and Milt Jackson's vibes, two other of my early jazz heroes were on the album: Kenny Burrell and Tommy Flanagan. I think Burrell might be better at dialectic exchange than any other jazz guitarist. He is in perfect form here. But if Burrell is justly famous, Tommy Flanagan never got the respect he deserves. I just think his accompaniment is exquisite. Eddie Jones plays bass, and Connie Kay is on drums.

Flanagan opens with a marvelous invitation to the main melody, and then Hawkins and Jackson immediately open up a dialogue, with Burrell and Flanagan playing their own secondary dialogue just beneath the central conversation. After that Bags takes off with his dialogue over the piano, bass and drums. Hawkins ups the energy level with smeary notes that contrast nicely with the previous precision of the vibes. Then Burrell, bluesy and swinging as always, does the third and I think best solo of the piece. Flanagan goes next, shifting a bit from intense to pensive. Finally everyone comes back on board, reversing the beginning.

All the album is good, but I won't cheat you. Here is perfect bop:

Coleman Hawkins & Milt Jackson/Close Your Eyes/Bean Bags

These are magic bean stalk beans. Get 'em and plant 'em, and go after the golden goose. Did I really write that?