He's more of my school, bassist Charles Mingus said of his then sideman, tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin in 1961, I mean he goes for himself. The assessment was spot-on; arriving on the US jazz scene at the time when the twin tenor peaks of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins were at the very apex of their powers, Ervin had the remarkable distinction of belonging to neither man's stylistic school, instead proffering a highly individual and distinctive blend of the blues-driven Texas tenor tradition - which, born in the Lone Star state city of Denison, was his birthright - and a diamond-hard, spearing tone that enabled him able to hold his own with such cutting-edge talents as Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Jaki Byard. Heat, energy, raw emotion and relentless sense of swing are [his] characteristics, wrote one contemporary observer, plus his straight-from-the-soul sincerity. Nevertheless, despite these ear-grabbing qualities and his almost evangelistic faith in his art, Ervin's career played out much like a tragedy socio-political anxiety and lack of work forced him to relocate to Europe in 1964, the beginning of an eventually thwarted attempt to broaden his art, while his return to the core of the New York jazz scene was cut short by ill-health, resulting in his early death, aged only 39, in 1970. The terms unsung hero and musicians' musician were all too frequently appended to Ervin's name during his short lifetime, yet in spite of these inhibiting labels he recorded no fewer than fifteen albums as a leader, as well as appearing as a sideman on over a dozen others.

This new Acrobat anthology celebrates the early years of his recorded career at the dawn of the 1960s, a juncture in which Hard Bop, Soul Jazz and the Avant-Garde all jostled for primacy, and which found Ervin a player perfectly equipped for the times. Featuring all three of his initial albums as a leader The Book Cooks, Cookin' and That's it! - together with selected appearances with bands led by vibraphonist Teddy Charles, pianists Horace Parlan and Mal Waldron and fellow-tenor Bill Barron (the rare Hot Line album), this 4-CD retrospective is accompanied by an extensive booklet note by award-winning saxophonist and author Simon Spillett, carefully re-examining Ervin's work, and uncovering much hitherto unknown information about his early life, alongside period photographs. Featured players include saxophonist Zoot Sims, trumpeters Tommy Turrentine and Richard Williams, guitarist Grant Green, pianists Kenny Barron and Tommy Flanagan, and drummers Andrew Cyrille, Charli Persip and Dannie Richmond.

REVIEWS

Much of the music that unfolds here is top notch… Ervin had a strong voice and deserved more than came his way. Too bad for posterity that he was cut down in his prime; even so, there’s plenty here to savour. - Peter Vacher (The Jazz Rag)

Blessed with an enviable bluesy vocabulary and a blowtorch tone, sounded not only unlike Rollins or Coltrane but unlike anyone else. - Brian Priestley (Jazzwise)