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'.  

Mingus & Me

One of the albums I bought when first the jazz bug bit was Charles Mingus, Three or Four Shades of Blue.  At the time I was very interested in jazz guitar.  The album appealed to me chiefly because of the presence of Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine, and John Scofield.  I can't say that I really had any clue about Mingus at the time and anyway the album is a pretty atypical in the selection of instruments.  It has a much more seventies, fusion feel than one associates with Mingus.  

However, it is pure Mingus in the power of the arrangements.  This album was also the beginning of an enduring love for Mingus' composition 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.'  I have uploaded that song.  Here is the solo order for that one song, thanks to Discogs:

Soloist [1st] – George Mraz Soloist [2nd] – Larry Coryell Soloist [3rd] – Philip Catherine Soloist [4th] – George Coleman Soloist [5th] – Charles Mingus Soloist [6th] – Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine

Meanwhile, I have been yearning to do another post on Booker Ervin.  Ervin was a wonderful tenor player with a fine number of recordings that no one but yours truly seems to know about.  I won't do it now, but I did post MDM (Monk, Duke, and Me) from Mingus' album Mingus.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Charles Mingus
• Clarinet [Bass] – Eric Dolphy (tracks: A1)
• Drums – Danny Richmond*
• Piano – Nico Bunick* (tracks: A1), Paul Bley (tracks: B2)
• Saxophone – Charlie McPherson* (tracks: A1)
• Saxophone [Alto] – Eric Dolphy
• Saxophone [Tenor] – Booker Ervin (tracks: A1)
• Trombone – Britt Woodman (tracks: A1), Jimmy Knepper (tracks: A1)
• Trumpet – Lonnie Hillyer (tracks: A1), Ted Curson

Happy New Year to Jazz Fans (and everyone else) Update!

I am working on a new show, and I plan to produce a podcast to go with it.  The next show will feature some insufficiently sung side men: Marion Brown, Andrew Cyrille, and Reggie Workman.  That's as far as I have thought it through.  

Update!  I have a playlist completed now.  In  addition to the artists mentioned above, you will hear some Grachan Moncur III and Booker Ervin.  Again: Happy New Year! 

Have You Ever Had Your Heart Broken?

If not, maybe you don't know what love is. I had my heart broken, twice. Fortunately, both were a very long time ago. But part of you never stops hurting. Maybe that pain is part of the dues you pay to enjoy certain exquisite pleasures. Maybe a person who has never known that pain is like a half-inflated balloon.

All this romantic philosophy was generated by my most recent Booker Ervin acquisition: Heavy! Booker has been my bookie for a long time now. I have blogged about him frequently, most recently last February. His Texas Tenor glows at the heart of all passion. Well, I didn't have Heavy!, though I have most of Ervin's recordings (at least the ones I know about). It got only three stars in the Penguin Guide, so I put it off. Boy was that a mistake.

By some electronic glitch, I didn't get the first song downloaded the first time, and so the first piece I heard was 'You Don't Know What Love Is.' From the first notes I was back in Jonesboro, Arkansas, fifteen years old, walking through a rain-soaked yard and kicking the shit out of a bunch of clover. Jan, my first love, had left me all alone. I am telling you that all that is in the first few notes!

This guy is no ordinary mortal. His horn is no ordinary brass. Booker Ervin's Heavy! is worth its weight in gold. Here's the All Music Guide:

The set matches Ervin with a remarkable rhythm section (pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Alan Dawson), plus trumpeter Jimmy Owens and trombonist Garnett Brown (who sometimes takes co-honors). The music is quite moody, soulful, and explorative yet not forbidding.

And here is the proof of all that I have said:

Booker Ervin/You Don't Know What Love Is/Heavy!

Find me something as good as that that isn't jazz. The whole thing is worth more than your car.