Booker Ervin

Booker Ervin was a jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger from Texas who specialised in hard bebop. He has been compared to John Coltrane in his ability but never attained the same level of fame. He began his career in music as a trombonist before switching to the tenor sax while he was in the USAF in the early 1950s. Moving to New York City in 1958, Ervin began his long association with the legendary bass player and band leader, Charles Mingus. He signed with Prestige Records but later signed with Blue Note.

Ervin was widely travelled during his brief career before his death at the age of 39. He visited, recorded and gigged all over Europe and Scandinavia playing with such jazz luminaries as Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, Sonny Stitt and of course Mingus. Despite the brevity of his career he managed to create and release more than 15 LPs between 1960 and 1968.