Search - Booker Ervin :: Booker & Brass

Usually Eclectic Ervin Enjoys Himself!!!!

Steven Fernow | Salt Lake City, Utah | 08/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very few tenor players have as distinctive a sound as Booker Ervin, and no doubt it was that idiosyncratic mark that made such a substantial contribution to his work with Charles Mingus and to the success of his "Books" albums. In this album, however, while not abandoning his highly developed aesthetic, he nonetheless gets down to earth with some highly satisying, full-throated blowing, finely augmented by a large ensemble. The orientation is bluesy, swingy, leaning more to the roots of blues and traditional jazz than to the avant garde to which he contributed significantly. The energy never wanes, and this is your basic foot tapping kind of session--in other words, JUST PLAIN FUN. My favorite cut is "L.A. After Dark", but the rest of the album is uniformly excellent as well. Glad I got a copy before it went out of print; if you can find one, grab it."