Tex Book Tenor

by Booker Ervin

Overview

Tex Book Tenor was recorded in 1968 as a follow-up to Booker Ervin's debut date for Blue Note, The In Between, which was released in January of the same year. (Ervin had made two records for Pacific Jazz, which is now owned, like Blue Note, by EMI.) The album remained unreleased until 1976, when it was issued with an also unreleased Horace Parlan date on a double LP called Back from the Gig. This is its first appearance on CD. The lineup is stellar and includes Billy Higgins, Woody Shaw, Kenny Barron, and bassist Jan Arnet from Czechoslovakia. Barron and Ervin had worked together before, and Arnet had worked with Ervin three years earlier as a touring partner in Germany. The music here includes three Ervin originals, Barron's wonderful "Gichi," and Shaw's "In a Capricornian Way." The Afro-Latin-influenced grooves of "Gichi" display Ervin playing his solo in prime snake-charmer mode. His own "Den Tex" is classic hard bop with Barron and Ervin going head to head throughout. "Lynn's Tune" is a beautiful midtempo ballad with wonderful work by Arnet and a loping solo by Shaw. The closer is "204," a steaming hard bop tune with a killer head featuring the two horns just pushing the tempo before Ervin goes off the map into his solo. Barron's playing is totally inspired, pushing huge chords at both players as they dig into the changes and come out breathing fire. This is a wonderful addition not only to the Blue Note catalog on CD, but to Ervin's own shelf as well, and should be picked up by anyone interested in him as a bandleader and composer. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	03/01/2024
Label:	Blue Note
UPC:	0602445852246
Rank:	21214

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Booker Ervin   Primary Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Jan Arnet   Double Bass,Bass
Billy Higgins   Guest Artist,Drums
Kenny Barron   Guest Artist,Piano
Woody Shaw   Guest Artist,Trumpet

Technical Credits

Francis Wolff   Audio Production,Cover Photo,Producer
Gordon H. Jee   Creative Director
Patrick Roques   Cover Design
Michael Cuscuna   Reissue Producer,Liner Notes
Woody Shaw   Composer
Rudy Van Gelder   Engineer
Ron McMaster   Mastering
Kenny Barron   Composer
Booker Ervin   Composer