Booker Ervin | Artist
Booker Telleferro Ervin II was an American jazz tenor saxophone player born 1930 in Denison, Texas. His tenor playing was characterised by a strong, tough sound and blues/gospel phrasing. He is remembered for his association with bassist Charles Mingus but issued dozens of superb hard-bop and bebop jazz records as soloist and leader of his own ensemble. Ervin first learned to play trombone at a young age from his father, who played with Buddy Tate. After leaving school, Ervin joined the US Air Force, stationed in Okinawa, Japan, during which time he taught himself tenor saxophone. After completing his service in 1953, he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Moving to Tulsa in 1954, he played with the band of Ernie Fields. After stays in Denver and Pittsburgh, he moved to NYC in 1958, initially working a day job and playing jam sessions at night. Ervin then worked with Charles Mingus regularly from late 1958 to 1960, rejoining various outfits led by Mingus up to autumn 1964, when he departed for Europe. During the mid-1960s, Ervin led his own quartet, recording for Prestige Records with ex-Mingus associate pianist Jaki Byard, along with bassist Richard Davis and Alan Dawson on drums. Ervin later recorded for Blue Note Records and played with pianist Randy Weston, with whom he recorded between 1963 and 1966. Weston said: "Booker Ervin, for me, was on the same level as John Coltrane. He was a completely original saxophonist.. he was a master. African Cookbook, which I composed in the early '60s, was partly named after Booker because we used to call him 'Book,' the melody of African Cookbook was based upon Ervin's sound, a sound like the north of Africa. He would kind of take those notes and make them weave hypnotically." Between October 1964 to summer 1966, Ervin worked and lived in Europe, playing gigs in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands. Basing himself in Barcelona, he featured regularly at the city's Jamboree Club. He recorded and broadcast while overseas, making albums with his own quartet, Dexter Gordon and Catalan vocalist Núria Feliu, and appearing at the 1965 Berlin Jazz Festival. Following his return Stateside in summer 1966, Ervin led his own groups in jazz clubs throughout the country, and appeared at both the Newport (1967) and Monterey (1966) Jazz Festivals, performing with Randy Weston. In late 1966 he was signed to West Coast label, Pacific Jazz, for whom he taped two albums, Structurally Sound and Booker 'n' Brass (1967), before switching to Blue Note. Ervin recorded two Blue Note albums under his own name, In Between and Tex Book Tenor, the latter going unissued during his lifetime. Ervin's final recorded appearance was in January 1969, when he guested on a Prestige album headed by teenage multi-instrumentalist Eric Kloss. From his solo discography, standout albums include That's It (1961), The Blues Book (1964), The Fredom Book (1964), The Song Book (1964), The Space Book (1965), The Trance (1967), The In Between (1968), and Back From the Gig (1976). Ervin died of kidney disease in NYC in 1970, aged 39. In 2017, Ervin was the subject of a mini-biography written by English saxophonist and author Simon Spillett, published as part of an anthology package titled The Good Book.
Artist Website : wikipedia/Booker_Ervin
Featured Albums: Booker Ervin
Related Artists: Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy
