With the plethora of new jazz vinyl reissues from many excellent labels, we are bound to find some artists new to us. Just so with this new Booker Ervin LP, TexBook Tenor. This March 2024 release is from the Bluenote Tone Poet Vinyl Series, Joe Harley’s project to bring superior remastering and production values to the mainstream for a reasonable price. As such, all the Tone Poets I’ve reviewed to date have been pressed very well, everything centred and the records flat. The same for this exceptional new LP.

I’ve become used to the gorgeous gatefold covers so I was a little surprised this new Tone Poet is in a single jacket. Still, nicely done, but I enjoy the gloss and the photography.

Much like the brilliant tenor player Harold Land I’m reviewing concurrently (publishing April 2; The Fox from Craft Recordings has an April 9 street date), Ervin is new to me. He was a contemporary of Land and like Land, a monumental talent.

Booker Ervin (1930 – 1970) was self-taught, later fine-tuning his craft at Berklee, had great technique, a big sound and enjoyed a fruitful association with Charles Mingus. I should have recognized him earlier for his work on Mingus’ superb Blues & Roots that I reviewed (Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series). Stylistically, Booker Ervin is more aligned with Coltrane than Getz, with improv chops to die for. His solos throughout this set are virtuosic and harmonically mesmeric.

Interestingly, although recorded at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on June 24, 1968, the recording did not get a standalone release (CD) until 2005. Reasons? Unknown, but Van Gelder did keep a hold of many recordings left unreleased ‘till later, including several now-famous Lee Morgan recordings. Who knows? Contractual, perceived standards; if you listen to the opening notes and the horrendous disagreement in pitch between Kenny Barron’s piano left hand and bassist Jan Arnet, it may be a little more than Van Gelder could bear. In any case, things improve rapidly from the first few bars of Kenny Barron’s modal "Gichi”.

What follows are four almost perfect examples of Ervin’s hard bop style, beautifully assisted by stellar sideman including an on-fire Woody Shaw on trumpet. He matches Ervin every step of the hard bop way with soloing style and brilliance. What a player. Side note: When I asked my lifelong friend, the great Montreal jazz trumpeter Steve Dubinsky, who were his favourite trumpeters, he didn’t flinch, Satchmo and Woody Shaw. Woody who? This conversation was back in the early ‘90s. Well, Steve knew of what he spoke. Now, Shaw is synonymous with the very best in solo or sideman trumpet action, as important as Lee Morgan and the rest. A glance at the Wikipedia page will give you a hint of the very sad story surrounding Shaw. Steve told me about Shaw only a few years after the great man’s death. Thank God for all these wonderful releases where we can appreciate his genius.

In addition to Shaw, Barron and Arnet, we have Billy Higgins on drums. A wonderful player. He’s definitely the rhythmic glue. Barron is his usual amazing self with Czech-born, engineer, mountaineer and bassist, Jan Arnet solid on the set—other than the opening intonation, he shines.

Ervin’s three tunes are beautiful examples of perfectly constructed hard bop—great heads, highly interesting forms, with energetic swing and fantastic solos. If you’re a fan of this style, you’ll be in the groove as soon as Ervin’s “Den Tex" explodes. That’s not to say these guys can’t ruminate in modes (“Gichi”). As such, no matter the style, Ervin and his men are up for it. I wonder why it took forty years to get this superb record to a now adoring jazz public?

Kevin Gray’s recut is classic Gray (after RVG). Ervin strong out of the left speaker, Higgins driving hard (but in balance) out of the right, Arnet in Rudy no-man’s-land—actually, hovering a little over Higgins’ ride. And Woody Shaw is also right. But in no way does it sound like a pan and scan of imbalance (yet, it is, in the typical RVG late night, turn on the red light, go! Type of way). However, the playing and the charts are so hypnotic, that you’ll forget the (very slight) lack of centre fill.

When the guys slow things down for Ervin’s “Lynn’s Tune”, the ensemble playing between Ervin and Shaw (intonation, inflection, groove) is a benchmark. And trumpeters, listen to Shaw jump octaves with beautiful legato and his cast iron embouchure. Fabulous. And then double time to close the set with “204”.

Kevin Gray has recut a masterpiece with another AAA brilliant pressing. As usual, all the timbres are unique and accurate. Also, he places and represents drums as good or better than anyone these days.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl and pressed at RTI. What you waitin’ for? Very highly recommended.

Bluenote Tone Poet Vinyl Series