Booker T. Ervin II was born on October 31, 1930, and died on August 31, 1970. He was an American tenor saxophone player. His playing style was known for a strong, tough sound and used styles from blues and gospel music. He is remembered for working with bassist Charles Mingus.

Biography

Ervin was born in Denison, Texas, United States. He learned to play the trombone when he was young, and his father, who played with Buddy Tate, taught him. After finishing high school, Ervin joined the United States Air Force and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where he taught himself to play the tenor saxophone. After finishing his military service in 1953, he studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After two years in Boston, he moved to Tulsa in 1954 and played with the band of Ernie Fields.

Later, Ervin lived in Denver and Pittsburgh before moving to New York City in spring 1958. He worked a day job and played music at night. From late 1958 to 1960, he regularly worked with Charles Mingus, and he joined Mingus’s groups several times until 1964, when he left for Europe. During the mid-1960s, Ervin led his own quartet and recorded music for Prestige Records with pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Alan Dawson.

Ervin later recorded for Blue Note Records and played with pianist Randy Weston, recording music between 1963 and 1966. Weston said, "Booker Ervin was as skilled as John Coltrane. He was a completely original saxophonist. He was a master. I composed a song called 'African Cookbook' in the early 1960s, partly named after Booker because we called him 'Book.' We would shout 'Cook, Book, cook' when he played. The melody of 'African Cookbook' was based on Booker Ervin’s sound, which reminded me of music from northern Africa."

From October 1964 to summer 1966, Ervin lived and worked in Europe, performing in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. He based himself in Barcelona, Spain, and performed regularly at the Jamboree Club. He recorded music and appeared on radio programs, performing at jazz festivals, including a guest appearance at the 1965 Berlin Jazz Festival, where he played a 25-minute improvisation. This performance was later released as "Blues For You" on the album Lament For Booker Ervin (Enja Records) in 1977.

After returning to the United States in summer 1966, Ervin led his own groups in jazz clubs across the country. He performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1967 and the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966, playing with Randy Weston. A recording of their performance was released on CD in 1994. In 1968, Ervin performed in Scandinavia, broadcasting with the Danish Radio Big Band. He recorded again for Prestige Records but was signed to Pacific Jazz Records in late 1966, where he recorded two albums: Structurally Sound and Booker 'n' Brass (1967). He later recorded for Blue Note Records, releasing two albums under his own name: In Between and Tex Book Tenor. The latter was not released during his lifetime but was included in a double album with recordings by Horace Parlan in the 1970s. In 2005, Blue Note released Tex Book Tenor as a single CD in its limited edition Connoisseur series.

Ervin’s final recorded appearance was in January 1969, when he guested on a Prestige album led by young musician Eric Kloss. Ervin died of kidney disease in New York City in 1970, at the age of 39. Many sources incorrectly report the date of his death. His gravestone in The National Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York, clearly states the date as August 31, 1970.

In 2017, a short biography about Ervin was written by English saxophonist and author Simon Spillett and published in an anthology called The Good Book (Acrobat Records).

Tributes

Booker Ervin has been honored by many artists. Ted Curson named one of his albums Ode to Booker Ervin; the band "Steam" included a song titled "Tellefero" on their album Real Time; and others have also paid tribute to him.

Discography

• Hot Line (Savoy, 1962 [1964])
• Out Front! (Prestige, 1964)
• Jazz In The Garden At The Museum Of Modern Art (Warwick, 1960)
• Urge (Fontana, 1966)
• Núria Feliu with Booker Ervin (Edigsa, 1965)
• Cracklin' (New Jazz, 1963)
• Grass Roots (Blue Note, 1968)
• In the Land of the Giants (Prestige, 1969)

With Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan
• Havin' a Ball at the Village Gate (RCA, 1963)
• Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland (United Artists, 1959)
• Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
• Mingus Dynasty (Columbia, 1959)
• Blues & Roots (Atlantic, 1959)
• Mingus (Candid, 1960)
• Mingus at Antibes (Atlantic, 1960 [1976])
• Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Candid, 1960)
• Oh Yeah (Atlantic, 1961)
• Tonight at Noon (Atlantic, 1957-61 [1965])
• Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse!, 1963)

• Up & Down (Blue Note, 1961)
• Happy Frame of Mind (Blue Note, 1963 [1988])

• The Exciting New Organ of Don Patterson (Prestige, 1964)
• Hip Cake Walk (Prestige, 1964)
• Patterson's People (Prestige, 1964)
• Tune Up! (Prestige, 1964 [1971])

• Soul People (Prestige, 1965)

• The Quest (New Jazz, 1961)

• Highlife (Colpix, 1963)
• Randy (Bakton, 1964) – also released as African Cookbook (Atlantic) in 1972
• Monterey '66 (Verve, 1966 [1994])