Booker Ervin - Structurally Sound (Blue Note)

In both title and content, this 1966 album for Pacific Jazz is reflective of Booker Ervin’s track record in reliability. The tenor saxophonist never cut a shoddy record by my reckoning, and this lesser heralded session is actually one of the better ones within a catalog already known for quality. The Los Angeles locale leads to the somewhat unusual rhythm section of John Hicks, Red Mitchell and Lenny McBrowne. Charles Tolliver spurs Ervin in the frontline with pungent trumpet playing derived from a kindred creative source. The two construct a string of thrilling unisons and exchanges. Four tracks added to the LP’s original eight flesh the disc out to a solid hour. Ervin opts for an eclectic program that bounces between standards, tunes by contemporaries like Randy Weston and Oliver Nelson, and a pair of originals. The quartet even tackles “White Christmas” (a nod to the holiday season recording date) in convincing fashion. Many of the pieces are taken up-tempo, leading to a high frequency of Ervin’s signature hard bitten cries and blistering runs. Ballads like “Deep Night” find voice through comparably virile forms of articulation. Hicks and Mitchell combine in a visceral pairing as well and McBrowne, while lower profile, does a fine job at the cans. Ervin’s sharply finite discography instantly adds cachet to this date. Even if that condition weren’t the case an unequivocal recommendation wouldn’t be hard to come by. About the only potential minus I can come up with is the relative paucity of Mitchell solos. But that’s like faulting Ervin for his preference for blues vernacular, a quibble that ends up beside the point.