Booker Ervin - That's It!

 That smoldering intensity that was kept largely under the covers in the previous two albums burns through the bed clothes on this date! For me, this is Booker's coming out party, that wonderful slightly unhinged wail is in full throat. It is that tone that first captured MY ear.

I think you would have to call this music pretty advanced for 1961. The four Ervin originals in particular are just glorious. These guys were a regular working unit at the time, they were communicating on a nearly magical level and pushing on into the post-bop frontier.

 "Booker Ervin, who always had a very unique sound on the tenor, is heard in prime form on his quartet set with pianist Horace Parlan, bassist George Tucker and drummer Al Harewood. In virtually all cases, the jazz and blues musicians who recorded for Candid in 1960-61 (during its original brief existence) were inspired and played more creatively than they did for other labels. That fact is true for Ervin, even if he never made an indifferent record. In addition to "Poinciana" and "Speak Low," Ervin's quartet (which was a regular if short-lived group) performs four of the leader's originals; best known is "Booker's Blues."