Album Reviews

While hard-bop tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin’s best known work was with Charles Mingus and his later Prestige albums are regarded as the hub of his solo recordings, this 1961 Candid set offers plenty of muscular grit, superb Nola Penthouse sound and the stellar backing trio of George Tucker on bass, Al Harewood on drums and one “Felix Krull” on piano, most likely a Nat Hentoff-assigned name given to Horace Parlan who was contracted to Blue Note at the time. In fact, Tucker and Harewood were part of Parlan’s quartet, as was Ervin for a spell.

A few standards (“Poinciana” and “Speak Low”) fill out a set of Ervin originals, most of which are jumpy and hard-edged, though one, “Booker’s Blues” is a gorgeous slow-moving drifter. The closer, the steaming “Boo” lets Parlan show off his crisp phrasing, wide dynamics and down home chording.

The spacious Bob d’Orleans recording is exceptionally well-organized, with Ervin center stage, Tucker between him and Harewood who’s in the left channel and Parlan owning the right.

Ervin’s long, clipped, confident phrasing and big bright tone are brilliantly captured in the recording and if you sit too close to your speakers, he’ll be playing in your lap.

That’s It! is an obscure classic well-deserving of a lovingly produced reissue such as this. Thanks again to Pure Pleasure for choosing such tasty morsels from the Candid catalog!