Booker Ervin
Booker Ervin | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born |
Denison, Texas | October 31, 1930
Died |
July 31, 1970 39) New York City | (aged
Genres | Hard bop |
Instruments | Tenor saxophone |
Associated acts | Charles Mingus |
Booker Telleferro Ervin II (October 31, 1930 – July 31, 1970[1]) was an American tenor saxophone player. His tenor playing was characterised by a strong, tough sound and blues/gospel phrasing. He is best known for his association with bassist Charles Mingus.
Biography
Ervin was born in Denison, Texas. He first learned to play trombone at a young age from his father, who played the instrument with Buddy Tate.[2] After leaving school Booker joined the United States Air Force, stationed in Okinawa, during which time he taught himself tenor saxophone.[2] 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.[2]
Ervin moved to New York City to join Horace Parlan's quartet, with whom he recorded Up & Down and Happy Frame of Mind (both for Blue Note Records). Ervin worked with Charles Mingus from 1956 to 1963. During the 1960s Ervin also 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 has 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 back in the early '60s, was partly named after Booker because we (musicians) used to call him 'Book,' and we would say, 'Cook, Book.' Sometimes when he was playing we'd shout, 'Cook, Book, cook.' And the melody of 'African Cookbook' was based upon Booker Ervin's sound, a sound like the north of Africa. He would kind of take those notes and make them weave hypnotically. So, actually the African Cookbook was influenced by Booker Ervin."[3]
Ervin died of kidney disease in New York City in 1970, aged 39.[4]
Discography
As leader
- 1960: The Book Cooks (Bethlehem)
- 1960: Cookin' (Savoy)
- 1961: That's It! (Candid)
- 1963: Exultation! (Prestige)
- 1963: Gumbo! (Prestige) with Pony Poindexter
- 1963: The Freedom Book (Prestige)
- 1964: The Song Book (Prestige)
- 1964: The Blues Book (Prestige)
- 1964: The Space Book (Prestige)
- 1965: Groovin' High (Prestige)
- 1965: The Trance (Prestige)
- 1965: Setting the Pace (Prestige) - with Dexter Gordon
- 1966: Heavy!!! (Prestige)
- 1966: Structurally Sound (Pacific Jazz)
- 1967: Booker 'n' Brass (Pacific Jazz)
- 1968: The In Between (Blue Note)
- 1968: Tex Book Tenor (Blue Note)
- Back from the Gig (1964-68 [1976]) - compiling then unreleased sessions that would later be issued as Horace Parlan's Happy Frame of Mind in 1988 and Ervin's Tex Book Tenor in 2005.
As sideman
With Bill Barron
- Hot Line (Denon, 1962)
With Jaki Byard
- Out Front! (Prestige, 1964)
With Teddy Charles
- Jazz in the Garden at the Museum of Modern Art (Warwick, 1960)
With Ted Curson
- Urge (Fontana, 1966)
With Núria Feliu
- Núria Feliu with Booker Ervin (Edigsa, 1965)
With Roy Haynes
- Cracklin' (New Jazz, 1963)
With Andrew Hill
- Grass Roots (Blue Note, 1968)
With Eric Kloss
- In the Land of the Giants (Prestige, 1969)
With Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan
- Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate (RCA, 1963)
With Charles Mingus
- Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland (United Artists, 1959)
- Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
- Mingus Dynasty (Columbia, 1959)
- Blues & Roots (Atlantic, 1959)
- Mingus at Antibes (Atlantic, 1960 [1976])
- Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Candid, 1960)
- Oh Yeah (Atlantic, 1961)
- Tonight at Noon (Atlantic, 1957-61 [1965])
- Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse!, 1963)
With Horace Parlan
- Up & Down (Blue Note, 1961)
- Happy Frame of Mind (Blue Note, 1963 [1988])
With Don Patterson
- The Exciting New Organ of Don Patterson (Prestige, 1964)
- Hip Cake Walk (Prestige, 1964)
- Patterson's People (Prestige, 1964)
- Tune Up! (Prestige, 1964 [1971])
With Sonny Stitt
- Soul People (Prestige, 1965)
With Mal Waldron
- The Quest (New Jazz, 1961)
With Randy Weston
- Highlife (Colpix, 1963)
- Randy (Bakton, 1964) - also released as African Cookbook (Atlantic) in 1972
- Monterey '66 (Verve, 1966)
References
- ↑ Booker Ervin at AllMusic
- 1 2 3 "Ervin, Booker T., Jr." Texas State Historical Association.
- ↑ "Monterey '66", Discography, Randy Weston African Rhythms website.
- ↑ All About Jazz - The Definitive Resource for Jazz Music Archived October 26, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.