Richard Booker

Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison continued their homage to the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little duo with a second set of performances recorded at Sweet Basil. They featured "Fire Waltz" and "Bee Vamp," two more tunes the duo immortalized during their Five Spot performances. Their versions are well-intentioned, frequently exciting, and superbly played. But they are not transcendent for the simple reason that Harrison lacks Dolphy's fluency on either alto sax or bass clarinet, and Blanchard does not possess Little's command of the upper register or his embouchure. That is not a knock; they certainly clicked with the rhythm section of pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Ed Blackwell, who did play on the originals. Both of these volumes are highly recommended, but if you have not heard the originals, do whatever it takes to get them.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

This Impulse! session co-led by drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Richard Davis finds the pair joined by tenor saxophonist Frank Foster and pianist Billy Green. The quartet performs an erratic but generally interesting set of music including "Shiny Stockings," Foster's funky "Raunchy Rita," and "Elvin's Guitar Blues"; the latter briefly features Jones making his first and only appearance on guitar.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD. All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray.

In some ways tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin was the archetypal jazz player for the post-bop 1960s, combining the tradition of Texas sax with just the hint of edgy modernism, a sort of the Delta-meets-Morocco sound so accessible that it is easy to miss the chances Ervin took with his music. Although his career was short (cancer claimed him in the summer of 1970 when he was just shy of his 40th birthday), Ervin still managed to record some 20 albums as a frontman, most notably his "book" series, The Song Book, The Blues Book, The Space Book, and this fine session, The Freedom Book, which finds him working with a rhythm section of Jaki Byard…

Les auteurs, respectivement journaliste et parlementaire européen, racontent l'histoire de la construction de l'Union européenne et les relations de l'Angleterre avec cette instance. …

Booker Ervin - The Space Book (1964) {Prestige OJCCD-896-2 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 217 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 85 Mb
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© 1964, 1996 Prestige Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-896-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin's quartet with pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Alan Dawson was so strong and dynamic that it is surprising that it only existed in the recording studio, and only for two sessions. For the fourth and final of Ervin's series of Books, the music is indeed somewhat spacey. The group explores two standards ("I Can't Get Started" and "There Is No Greater Love") along with a pair of Ervin originals (the intense "Number Two" and "Mojo"), stretching the boundaries of hard bop without totally abandoning the chord changes. This CD is a fine example of Booker Ervin's unique style.