Search - Booker Ervin :: Tex Book Tenor

Did Booker ever make a bad album?

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 12/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since I agree with the review below as to the quality of the music I thought I would add just a few remarks on Booker's history for those of you that might not be familiar with him.

He was born in Denison, Texas in 1930. He started playing tenor in the Army and afterwards gigged in Boston. He eventually headed to New York and met Horace Parlan who introduced him to Charles Mingus. Booker was one of a great line of Mingus' tenors, other being the likes of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Clifford Jordan. Booker played on some of Mingus's greatest works including Mingus Ah Um which includes his definitive solo on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (IMHO-one of the great jazz solos).

After leaving Mingus's employ, Booker also starred on some great Randy Weston albums.

Perhaps more importantly, he put out a series of LPs for Prestige usually using his fellow Mingus alumni Jaki Byard. These are available on Amazon: The Space Book, The Freedom Book (one of the great documents of mid-60s jazz), The Blues Book and The Song Book (Tommy Flanagan replaces Byard on this one).

Tex Book Tenor was recorded in June of 1968. It is part of a series that Byard later did for (eventually) Blue Note and includes Structurally Sound and The In Between. Booker Ervin passed away in 1970.

I think stef would agree with me in that I don't think there is a single mediocre LP in the entirety of those mentioned above. He is right about this CD. Everybody is in very fine form playing with great passion, intelligence and sophistication.

This CD is a good intro to Ervin if you are unfamiliar with his work. Mingus Ah Um is another and if you don't know that CD then start with that. If your taste is a little adventurous try The Freedom Book.

All of these works will take you back to the Time Before MTV or, as I like to call it, before The Revenge of the Song and Dance Men. This was a period when music was a craft not a means to fame and fortune. These men knew that it would take time, that an apprenticeship would make them better, that learning to compose would help to develope their individual voices and that they were furthering a tradition. All that work shines through on this CD. Stef is right. This is a good one. Pick it up and listen to the learning of the great Booker Ervin.

p.s. One of the delights of the packaging is a photo that shows why Billy Higgins was called Smiling Billy. What a great drummer he was!"

Another good one from Booker

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 12/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Only 12 days after the recording of the very good "The in between", Booker Ervin went back to Rudy Van Gelder's place in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey to record another album for Blue Note. Frankly Booker is accompanied here by a more talented band. The exceptional Woody Shaw is the trumpet player here, Kenny Barron played the piano, Billy Higgins sat at the drum set and Jan Arnet took the bass place. Three tunes here are from Booker, one from Woody Shaw and the opener from Kenny Barron's pen. Texas tenor is what is played by Booker and to quote the booklet texas tenor means "The tone is strong, clean and biting almost to the point of overblowing. The playing is passionate almost to the point of frenzy, but always vulnerable to the degree that a bent half note can break your heart. The improvisations are crystalline and precise". I think it's enough to clear what kind of school Booker belong to. Woody Shaw was a terrific trumpeter, technical and emotional. The music is pure hard bop from the late sixties. No too fast I have to admit, if you had been there you could breath a nice relaxed atmosphere in the studio. The only real speeder here is the last tune "204" which ... runs! I love in particular the first tune which is quite mysterious and catching (similar to some Lee Morgan tune of the sixties) and the lovely "Lynn's tune" which is a sort of "Ceora" again from Lee Morgan. This is another really strong Blue Note album that you can buy with confidence. A very good hard bop date with nice originals and very good players surrounding the always interesting Booker Ervin."

Smoking, Swinging, Lyrically Free: Deliverance On The Texas

Michael F. Hopkins | Buffalo, NY USA | 01/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is a CD bursting with joyful song! Small

wonder, given the superb personnel and their

exceptional leader. Tenor legend Booker Ervin

cut his final album for Blue Note with this

brilliant 1968 date also featuring trumpeter

Woody Shaw, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Jan

Arnet, and drummer Billy Higgins. TEX BOOK

TENOR is a jubilant celebration of Jazz,

dancing with sinuous delicacy, thunderous

impact, and lyrical fire; staking the Texas

reedslinger's claim to immortality beyond

any doubt, critical or otherwise.



With compositions running the rhapsodic gamut

from sweet humalongs such as "Lynn's Tune" and

Barron's "Gichi" to mean, clean grinds such as

"Den Tex" and the debut recording of Shaw's

acclaimed "In A Capricornian Way", this album

stands as a hallmark of collective play and

daring groove. Everybody cooks! That Ervin

composed the majority of this album is a

great achievement in what was one of the

great careers in all of Music.



By the time you arrive at the album's climax,

you are certain to be breathless and relaxed.

"204" tucks you in, then takes off into a

streamlined ride that bullet trains would

be hard-pressed to chase! Quite Nice.



If you have Ervin's classic first Blue Note

session, play THE IN BETWEEN and this album

back-to-back, and enjoy the grand tapestry

of a great artist's final summations.

Whatever you do, get TEX BOOK TENOR, dig

in deep, and enjoy.

No exercise in revisionism, this is straight-

on Jazz, delightfully set to take you on.

"