Booker Ervin The Space Book AOTW

[ejp626]

I wasn't sure if this was still in print, but there seem to be sufficient copies floating around that it can be selected as AOTW. I think it is for week June 13-19.

Booker Ervin The Space Book 1964 (recorded in 1963)

This was my first introduction to Ervin as a leader, and I picked it up basically on a whim, but I liked it a lot. It has an inside/outside style that was fairly common in the mid 1960s. Byard's piano playing is inspired. I'm sure most of you know that it is a short album, and that additional tracks from this session are on Exhultation. On Space Book itself, there are two standards and two originals.

I'll write more later and try to post the album cover.

Eric

Here is the AMG review:

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. — Scott Yanow

[EKE BBB]

Great choice!

Here´s the cover:

===================

EDITED to add a bigger cover

Edited 9 Jun 2004 by EKE BBB

[vibes]

Love the cover. This was also my first introduction to Booker Ervin as a leader, and it's still my favorite Ervin album. I love the way the album starts out with "Number Two." "Intense" (as the AMG review says) is a great way to describe this number, but it's also a fun number, IMO. Ervin always sounds better on up-tempo numbers anyway; he always sounds really restless on slower tunes.

[couw]

I have always wanted to pick up the "books," but never got around to it. Found the Blues Book in a bin some time ago, a good one. Maybe this thread can convince me to keep my eyes open even wider, but I am recovering from an overkill of new music and will want to take it easy. So please make an impression that lasts a bit longer than a week when you want me to pick this one up some time in the future.

[Nate Dorward]

Haven't got this but have The Trance, The Freedom Book & The Song Book, all of which are excellent, with the nod going to The Freedom Book. I'll get around to the others in this series soon, I'm sure.

[jlhoots]

Excellent choice.

Freedom Book & Song Book are also near the top of the list.

[sidewinder]

I've actually got two Blue label Bergenfield LPs of this one so you could say that it's a favourite (one is in somewhat better nick than the other) B) . 'I Can't Get Started' and 'There Is No Greater Love' are particularly inspired performances by the group (the whole album is great really). What a superb interpreter of the ballad form Booker Ervin was. I particularly like the way the latter tune ends on a somewhat inconclusive note on side 2, as if the band were disappearing up into the ether..

[king ubu]

I have always wanted to pick up the "books," but never got around to it. Found the Blues Book in a bin some time ago, a good one. Maybe this thread can convince me to keep my eyes open even wider, but I am recovering from an overkill of new music and will want to take it easy. So please make an impression that lasts a bit longer than a week when you want me to pick this one up some time in the future.

You ought to change that fast! I've had the Space and Freedom books for years (got them once I got to know and love Ervin from some Mingus albums which were among my first dozen jazz discs, so Ervin goes way back to when I began enjoying this music).

Excellent album!

ubu

[mikeweil]

This reminds that I borrowed my copy to one of my drum students a years ago - I had turned him to Alan Dawson and he wanted some more to listen to ...

I first heard some Booker Ervin when Bellaphon Germany issued two double-LPs with the Space and Freedom Books and Settin' the Pace and The Trance in the 1970's. I have been a fan of "The Book" ever since. His Prestige sides, especially those with the dream rhythm section of Byard, Davis and Dawson, are the best in his career, IMHO.

Very intense music, really rewarding if you take your time and listen real closely, and follow the fascinating four-way interactions going on. Excellent example for individualist jazz on the verge of "free" playing in its time.

Edited 10 Jun 2004 by mikeweil

[JohnS]

My copy is the twofer vinyl which couples this with Freedom Book. Can't think when I last gave it a spin. A fine album, Booker is a real original with an unmistakable "crying" sound. Sometimes I find him a tad unrelenting but he's always interesting. Byard is on form, always playing the unexpected. Fine bass work from Richard Davis throughout.

[danasgoodstuff]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"? There's some truth to that, but I don't care 'cause the're really good solos and, more importantly, the're his. (Kinda the way I feel about Muddy Waters, who really did only have one solo, but it was really great & his.) The rhythm section, with or without subs, consistently outplays him but that's OK w/me too.

[Guy Berger]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"? There's some truth to that, but I don't care 'cause the're really good solos and, more importantly, the're his. (Kinda the way I feel about Muddy Waters, who really did only have one solo, but it was really great & his.) The rhythm section, with or without subs, consistently outplays him but that's OK w/me too.

I kind of feel the same about Booker. I *love* his work w/Mingus, but in other settings he was somewhat one-dimensional. Still enjoyable up to a point, though.

Guy

[Niko]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"? There's some truth to that, but I don't care 'cause the're really good solos and, more importantly, the're his. (Kinda the way I feel about Muddy Waters, who really did only have one solo, but it was really great & his.) The rhythm section, with or without subs, consistently outplays him but that's OK w/me too.

I kind of feel the same about Booker. I *love* his work w/Mingus, but in other settings he was somewhat one-dimensional. Still enjoyable up to a point, though.

Guy

i have been listening to some of his stuff with Randy Weston more or less all day (African Cookbook and Monterey) and how great Ervin was in that context may have been my most frequent thought today - but that's just me

[K1969]

i have been listening to some of his stuff with Randy Weston more or less all day (African Cookbook and Monterey) and how great Ervin was in that context may have been my most frequent thought today - but that's just me

I could never tell anyone my most frequent thought of the day - but it has more to do with Randy than Booker!

Edited 3 May 2007 by K1969

[Niko]

i have been listening to some of his stuff with Randy Weston more or less all day (African Cookbook and Monterey) and how great Ervin was in that context may have been my most frequent thought today - but that's just me

I could never tell anyone my most frequent thought of the day - but it has more to do with Randy than Booker!

[brownie]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"?

Wasn't this a DEEP thought?

[Niko]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"?

Wasn't this a DEEP thought?

wonder whether those who think so would go so far to say you really need only one Booker album (which contains at least one slow and one fast tune, otherwise two) or if you need more than one then just because of Jaki Byard or whoever; maybe this is naive but i wouldn't want to miss either version of Portrait of Vivian and that's not because of anyone other than Booker

[couw]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"?

Wasn't this a DEEP thought?

yes.

while we're collecting mannerisms we need to mention Up&Down by Horace Parlan with Parlan getting stuck on a single note all the time, Grant Green getting stuck on another single note at least as often and Booker playing his two solos one after the other.

[paul secor]

Now which one of our resident crumudgeons was it who said "Booker only has two solos, one fast and one slow"?

Wasn't this a DEEP thought?

yes.

while we're collecting mannerisms we need to mention Up&Down by Horace Parlan with Parlan getting stuck on a single note all the time, Grant Green getting stuck on another single note at least as often and Booker playing his two solos one after the other.

Actually, Mr. Nessa deserves the credit for this one. See HERE. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...te=booker+ervin

[K1969]

Dear Booker fans - I'm really loving the track "Tyra" at the end of The In Between. Great trumpet work too. Any one else dig this one?

[AllenLowe]

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one of my favorites - when I was a kid (1969) a friend of mine called me and said 'hey I just went to a jam session and saw Booker Erivin. He was the best one there." This peaked my interest, so I bought Structurally Sound and thought, "gotta see this guy."

but he was soon dead -

and, strangely enough, I was listening to a playback of myself recently and found myself doing little Booker-isms. Completely unconsciously.

but he was one of the most soulful horn players EVER -

Edited 21 Jun 2010 by AllenLowe

[Tom Cat]

count me as a fan, i love the book series by the way the space book was the hardest to find for me, but finally get it a month ago,

the in between, haven't heard this yet

[sidewinder]

Can't get enough of Booker Ervin. Still got to find a nice original copy of 'The Freedom Book' though. That one has eluded me.

Edited 22 Jun 2010 by sidewinder

[K1969]

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he was one of the most soulful horn players EVER -

Word. We love you madly Booker!

[AllenLowe]

strangely enough, judging by your picture, you look a lot like him -