Best known for his association with Charles Mingus, the Texas-born tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin was a distinctive soloist with an assertive and immediately recognizable sound. One of Ervin’s pinnacle statements as a leader was the first of his two Pacific Jazz albums, Structurally Sound, which he cut in 1966 shortly after returning to the U.S. from a two-year period of living in Barcelona and working across Europe. Featuring Ervin fronting a top-shelf quintet with Charles Tolliver on trumpet, John Hicks on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, and Lenny McBrowne on drums, the sublime program included originals by Ervin (“Boo’s Blues”) and Tolliver (“Franess”), songbook standards (“Dancing In The Dark,” “You’re My Everything,” and “Deep Night”), and pieces by eminent jazz composers: Billy Strayhorn’s “Take The ‘A’ Train,” Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” and Randy Weston’s “Berkshire Blues.”
This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.
Tracklist
Side A
Berkshire Blues
Dancing In The Dark
Stolen Moments
Franess
Side B
Boo's Blues
You're My Everything
Deep Night
Take The "A" Train
This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.