Booker Ervin

[Milestones]

I love to make playlists that spotlight artists in various ways.  For instance, I have created three playlists of Bobby Hutcherson on Blue Note--tracks from both leader and sideman dates.  

I have a playlist of Booker Ervin's work with Mingus.

Edited February 6, 2021 by Milestones

[BlueSpirits]

32 minutes ago, JSngry said:

You know you're going to go broke and then blame us, right?

Wow! I just checked out this tune

 

What power and melody. Amazing! This is the good stuff, right here.

[JSngry]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

Probably my favorite booker records (as leader) are The In-Between and what has been come to be known as Tex-Book Tenor. Both on Blue Note.

But to trifectaulate the pairing, add in Horace Parlan's Happy State Of Mind.

3 drank 4 while 2 wasn't looking and added this 1:

 

47 minutes ago, BlueSpirits said:

I do have a question! How do you guys not get overwhelmed by the amount of music there is to check out?

In terms of expense, I have friends who treat me well, and I try to do the same for them. And never forget - no matter how many friends you have it's nothing but good karma to buy real product from real product creators and sellers at fair market value, cheapest is not always best, dig? Karma's a bitch, keep that in mind. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, , if not in this life, in the next or parallel or wherever it may be. Just don't be the guy with an unbalanced ledger, ok?

Time-wise? Hey, fuck it. I hope I live long enough to hear it all (including stuff on my shelves. Longevity trumps OCD if you mange it right. Or so I hope...

[AllenLowe]

for me it's Booker's vibrato - a hard blast followed by a slow, yawning, shake.

Edited February 6, 2021 by AllenLowe

[Guy Berger]

I like him, but find him a little “clunky” compared to his peers (Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson most significantly, but also Dewey Redman, Bennie Maupin, Billy Harper and Charles Lloyd).

IMHO he was best with Charles Mingus.

[JSngry]

None of the American records really get to this side of Booker, not like this.

 

Take away "songs", take away the rhythmic symmetries imposed by most pianists to one degree or another, and boom, there it is - Booker Ervin, free blues Black Music tenor player, unambiguously there, in that place..

[JSngry]

I always loved Booker Ervin, always. but it was not until hearing this record that I fully understood him. Playing "songs", he sounds like a really powerful eccentric jazz voice. Here, he sounds totally organic, not just a "jazz player", but so much more than just that. That's a freaking SOUL!!!!!!

The American records never get all of that, not like this one does.

[bertrand]

(60) Booker A Day To Mourn Live @ VARA Studio 7, 1966 - YouTube

(60) Booker - Blues It, Live @ Vara, 1966 - YouTube

(60) Booker Ervin Live You Don't Know What Love Is - YouTube

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, bertrand said:

(60) Booker A Day To Mourn Live @ VARA Studio 7, 1966 - YouTube

(60) Booker - Blues It, Live @ Vara, 1966 - YouTube

(60) Booker Ervin Live You Don't Know What Love Is - YouTube

....

[Rabshakeh]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

None of the American records really get to this side of Booker, not like this.

 

Take away "songs", take away the rhythmic symmetries imposed by most pianists to one degree or another, and boom, there it is - Booker Ervin, free blues Black Music tenor player, unambiguously there, in that place..

That's a good one, and a nice description. Helluva record. Cutting out the piano seems to set Booker free.

Ted Curson is another, connected, player who also never gets his due amount of love. I always need to be reminded to listen to him.

Anyway, time for some Mingus At Antibes...

[bertrand]

45 minutes ago, soulpope said:

....

Also from Holland like that Rollins record but won't get as much fuss, I assure you.

Combine this and the 1967 Newport date and you would have a nice little CD, about an hour long.

[soulpope]

2 minutes ago, bertrand said:

Also from Holland like that Rollins record but won't get as much fuss, I assure you.

Combine this and the 1967 Newport date and you would have a nice little CD, about an hour long.

Yep ....

[soulpope]

22 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

That's a good one, and a nice description. Helluva record. Cutting out the piano seems to set Booker free.

Ted Curson is another, connected, player who also never gets his due amount of love. I always need to be reminded to listen to him.

Anyway, time for some Mingus At Antibes...

And Jimmy Woode is a true force here ....

[BlueSpirits]

15 hours ago, JSngry said:

None of the American records really get to this side of Booker, not like this.

 

Take away "songs", take away the rhythmic symmetries imposed by most pianists to one degree or another, and boom, there it is - Booker Ervin, free blues Black Music tenor player, unambiguously there, in that place..

Wow, this is gold. Gonna have to track this one down. Check out that SOUL!   The whole band is really on point , too. Thanks for posting this!

 

[BlueSpirits]

Spinning this one right now- Really love it

 

Also, JSngry , thanks for telling me to check out Billy Harper. I've spent the last 2 days just going through everything I can find on Youtube. This music is astonishingly good. I can see the connection to Booker, for sure. I've listened to Capra Black, Black Saint, Jon & Billy and The Awakening so far. All of them blew me away. Will now have to go broke tracking down all his LPs              

 

[JSngry]

Billy will keep you busy for a while! 

As long as you're tracking, track down Hot Line, a Bill Barron album on Savoy where he shares the front line with Booker. Excellent stuff.

[BlueSpirits]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Billy will keep you busy for a while! 

As long as you're tracking, track down Hot Line, a Bill Barron album on Savoy where he shares the front line with Booker. Excellent stuff.

Will do!

[clifford_thornton]

Urge is one of my favorites too. I think I have pretty much everything except for Booker & Brass, which I could never fully appreciate though I should try again...

and welcome to the board, BlueSpirits. 

[sidewinder]

14 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Urge is one of my favorites too. I think I have pretty much everything except for Booker & Brass, which I could never fully appreciate though I should try again...

and welcome to the board, BlueSpirits. 

I’m such a fan of ‘Booker and Brass’ that last time I was in NYC I sought out Webster Hall, peered through the window and thought of that album. 

[mhatta]

This one is new for me.  Booker blows at Cafe Montmartre!  Maybe SteepleChase will issue this someday...

 

 

 

 

[Mark Stryker]

On 2/5/2021 at 11:01 PM, JSngry said:

None of the American records really get to this side of Booker, not like this.

 

Take away "songs", take away the rhythmic symmetries imposed by most pianists to one degree or another, and boom, there it is - Booker Ervin, free blues Black Music tenor player, unambiguously there, in that place..

Not sure how I got to 59 years old without ever hearing this record, but here we are. Fantastic -- some of the best Curson I know, with the chops up enough to get his interesting ideas out with clarity. And everything Jim says about Booker here is right on. Great blindfold test record. I'd get Booker with his first few notes and Curson by process of elimination; but I'd never guess Woode (who sounds tremendous) or Bateman. 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Mark Stryker

[clifford_thornton]

Urge is the shit. Haven't dug out my vinyl copy in a few years or more. Need to do that again.

[AllenLowe]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:58 PM, JSngry said:

Billy will keep you busy for a while! 

As long as you're tracking, track down Hot Line, a Bill Barron album on Savoy where he shares the front line with Booker. Excellent stuff.

Jim - I may have posted this already, but I once told Bill Barron how good he was on that recording, especially against a powerhouse like Ervin. Bill was a very modest guy, and I think he was embarrassed but very flattered.

[Larry Kart]

I posted this in January: 

 

If you can find a copy, grab Barron's 1962 album "The Hot Line" (Savoy -- probably the last of his Savoy dates; I have it on a mono LP), which pairs him with Booker Ervin, backed by brother Kenny, Larry Ridley, and Andrew Cyrille. As might be expected, Barron and Ervin make for good company, with the former perhaps stimulated by Ervin to play in a more in agitated "blowing" manner than usual. In any case, agitated Barron is great to hear.   

[Larry Kart]

Ervin's response to a Lockjaw Davis track in a Down Beat Blindfold Test: "Damn  -- That Jaws plays BACKWARDS.