# Booker Ervin

Booker Telleferro Ervin II (October 31, 1930 – August 31, 1970) was an American tenor saxophone player. His tenor playing was characterised by a strong, tough sound and blues/gospel phrasing. He is remembered for his association with bassist Charles Mingus.

## Biography

Ervin was born in Denison, Texas, United States. He first learned to play trombone at a young age from his father, who played the instrument with Buddy Tate. After leaving school, Ervin joined the United States 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, Massachusetts. Moving to Tulsa in 1954, he played with the band of Ernie Fields.
After stays in Denver and Pittsburgh, Ervin moved to New York City in spring 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 the bassist at various times up to autumn 1964, when he departed for Europe. During the mid-1960s, Ervin led his own quartet, recording for Prestige Records with, among others, 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 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."
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, Spain, 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, featuring on various radio programmes and appearing at several jazz festivals, including a guest slot at the 1965 Berlin Jazz Festival, during which he performed a 25-minute improvisation. This performance was issued as "Blues For You" on the album Lament For Booker Ervin (Enja Records) in 1977.
Following his return to the United States in summer 1966, Ervin led his own groups in jazz clubs throughout the country, and appeared at both the Newport Jazz Festival (1967) and the Monterey Jazz Festival (1966) performing with Randy Weston; a recording of their performance was issued on CD in 1994. In 1968, Ervin again appeared at clubs and festivals in Scandinavia, broadcasting with the Danish Radio Big Band. He recorded again for Prestige, but in late 1966 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, initially being released in the 1970s as part of a double album shared with recordings (on which Ervin features) made under the leadership of Horace Parlan (Back from the Gig). In 2005, Blue Note issued as single CD of Tex Book Tenor in its limited edition Connoisseur series.
Ervin's final recorded appearance occurred in January 1969, when he guested on a further Prestige album headed by teenage multi-instrumentalist Eric Kloss.
Ervin died of kidney disease in New York City in 1970, aged 39. Most biographical accounts of Ervin's death give an incorrect date. His gravestone in The National Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York, clearly shows the date as August 31, 1970.
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 (Acrobat Records)

## Tributes

Booker Ervin has been remembered by many artists, Ted Curson called one of his albums Ode to Booker Ervin; the band "Steam", in their album Real Time, called one of their tracks "Tellefero"; and others...

## Discography
### As leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Year released | Personnel/Notes |
| 1960 | The Book Cooks | Bethlehem | 1960 | Sextet, with Ervin and Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Tommy Turrentine (trumpet), Tommy Flanagan (piano), George Tucker (bass), Danny Richmond (drums) |
| 1960 | Cookin' | Savoy | 1961 | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Richard Williams (trumpet), Horace Parlan (piano), George Tucker (bass), Danny Richmond (drums); reissued as Down in the Dumps (1978) |
| 1960 | That's It! | Candid | 1961 | Quartet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Horace Parlan (piano), George Tucker (bass), Al Harewood (drums) |
| 1963 | Exultation! | Prestige | 1963 | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Frank Strozier (alto sax), Horace Parlan (piano), Butch Warren (bass), Walter Perkins (drums) |
| 1963 | Gumbo! – with Pony Poindexter | Prestige | 1963 | Four quintet tracks, with Ervin (tenor sax), Pony Poindexter (alto, soprano sax), Gildo Mahones (piano), George Tucker (bass), Jimmie Smith (drums); four sextet tracks, with Al Grey (trombone) added |
| 1963 | The Freedom Book | Prestige | 1964 | Quartet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1963–64 | Groovin' High | Prestige | 1966 | Three quartet tracks, with Ervin (tenor sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums); one quintet track, with Ervin (tenor sax), Carmell Jones (trumpet), Gildo Mahones (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1964 | The Song Book | Prestige | 1964 | Quartet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Tommy Flanagan (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1964 | The Blues Book | Prestige | 1964 | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Carmell Jones (trumpet), Gildo Mahones (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1964 | The Space Book | Prestige | 1965 | Quartet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1965 | The Trance | Prestige | 1967 | Quartet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1965 | Setting the Pace – with Dexter Gordon | Prestige | 1967 | Quintet, with Ervin and Dexter Gordon (tenor sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1965 | Lament for Booker Ervin | Enja | 1975 | Two quartet tracks, with Ervin (tenor sax), Kenny Drew (piano), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1966 | Heavy!!! | Prestige | 1967 | Sextet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Jimmy Owens (trumpet, flugelhorn), Garnett Brown (trombone), Jaki Byard (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Alan Dawson (drums) |
| 1966 | Structurally Sound | Pacific Jazz | 1967 | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Charles Tolliver (trumpet), John Hicks (piano), Red Mitchell (bass), Lenny McBrowne (drums) |
| 1967 | Newport 1967 | Megadisc | | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Chick Corea (piano), Reggie Johnson (bass), Lenny McBrowne (drums); unofficial release |
| 1967 | Booker 'n' Brass | Pacific Jazz | 1967 | With Ervin (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Richard Williams (trumpet), Ray Copeland (trumpet, flugelhorn), Garnett Brown, Bennie Green (trombone), Benny Powell (bass trombone), Kenny Barron (piano), Reggie Johnson (string bass), Lenny McBrowne (drums); Ervin (tenor sax), Johnny Coles, Williams (trumpet), Martin Banks, Copeland (trumpet, flugelhorn), Green, Britt Woodman (trombone), Powell (bass trombone), Barron (piano), Johnson (bass), McBrowne (drums); Banks, Copeland, Hubbard, Williams (trumpet), Brown, Green (trombone), Barron (piano), Johnson (bass), McBrowne (drums) |
| 1968 | The In Between | Blue Note | 1968 | Quintet, with Ervin (tenor sax), Richard Williams (trumpet), Bobby Few (piano), Cevera Jeffries Jr. (bass), Lenny McBrowne (drums) |
| 1968 | Back from the Gig | Blue Note | 1976 | Five quintet tracks, with Ervin (tenor sax), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Kenny Barron (piano), Jan Arnett (bass), Billy Higgins (drums); double LP also including a 1963 session led by Horace Parlan, which was reissued separately in 1986 as Happy Frame of Mind; this session reissued separately in 2005 as Tex Book Tenor |

### As sideman

With Bill Barron
* Hot Line (Savoy, 1962 [1964])
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 (Candid, 1960)
* 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 [1994])