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'.  

Some New Music on Live365

I've been swamped lately.  One of these days I'm going to get things right.  Or so says Mose Allison.  I have added an hour of music to my Live365 channel.  I started with a Mose Allison gem.  The rest are from albums that I purchased when I first began buying jazz records.  Here is a playlist:

1. Mose Allison/Days Like This/The Word from Mose Allison
2. Bill Evans Trio/Pensativa/Crosscurrents
3. Warne Marsh/Blues in G Flat/The Unissued Copenhagen Studio Session
4. Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane/Freight Trane/Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane
5. Kenny Burrell/ Midnight Blue/Midnight Blue
6. Zoot Sims/Jitterbug Waltz/Warm Tenor
7. Zoot Sims/You Go To My Head/Warm Tenor
8. Wes Montgomery/Come Rain or Shine/The Complete Riverside Recordings
9. Bill Evans/The Days of Wine and Roses/Affinity
10. Bill Evans/Blue and Green/Affinity

The Allison piece speaks for itself.  Crosscurrents, with Warne Marsh  Lee Konitz backing the Bill Evans Trio (Eddi Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums), was one of the albums that hooked me into jazz.  I follow it with Warne Marsh from an unissued recording that got issued.  

I bought a bunch of albums with Kenny Burrell on them after I saw Burrell in concert in Southern California.  Burrell and Trane is a great example.  But I think that Midnight Blue is one of those albums that ought to be at the top of the list.  The recording is superb, and the playing is transcendental.  From Discogs.com:

Bass - Major Holley  Congas - Ray Barretto  Drums - Bill English Tenor Saxophone - Stanley Turrentine

Zoot Sims' Warm Tenor was one of my first purchases, back in Jonesboro Arkansas when I was still mowing my parent's lawn.  That is about as revealing an album title as ever I saw.  From the All Music Guide: This quartet set with pianist Jimmy Rowles, bassist George Mraz and drummer Mousie Alexander.  

I had a double album by Wes Montgomery.  I don't know for sure if this piece was on it, but it is a good sample of what I fell in love with.  If Zoot's horn was warm, Wes had about as warm a line as any guitar jazz man. Now that I think about it, I am sure that this was on the original album because I recorded it and played on the stereo at the liquor store where I worked.  My boss complained. 

I added a couple of pieces from Affinity, with Bill Evans and Toots Thielemans on harmonica.  Same trio as above, with Larry Schneider on horns.  This is just exquisite jazz. 

From A to Zoot

I feel like posting but I don't have anything much to say. It's a cool night, and the moon is peaking out from a quilt of clouds. I am listening to Zoot Sims. It's one of those odd things, but just after I first listened to Zoot's brilliant album, Warm Tenor, I went out and mowed the lawn. I was thinking about the music as I pushed the mower. That was, maybe, thirty five years ago. Now, every time I listen to Sims, I remember the light in the back yard, and the roar of the air conditioning unit.

Well, here is a track that won't rouse such memories in you, dear reader. More apropos would be beer lights and wooden booths. Zoot rules the room.

Zoot Sims/The Touch of Your Lips/I Wish I Were Twins

Jimmy Rowles on piano, Frank Tate on bass, and Akira Tana on drums. Rowles is superb. What would life be like if this were happening every Saturday down on main street. Park next to the bicycle shop and walk in. Order a drink, and listen to Sims work the saxophone.