Tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin's reputation was solidified in the mid-Sixties with the series of "book" albums he released on Prestige--The Freedom Book, The Song Book, The Blues Book, and The Space Book. The tracks on the present collection are necessary to appreciate the Blues and Space volumes unabridged, as it were. Products of the same sessions, they contain all of the breaking-point intensity of Ervin's best work and are by no means leftovers. Of particular interest is "The Second #2," one of the saxophonist's most famous themes and the ultimate expression of the incredible, studio-only quartet of Ervin, Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, and Alan Dawson. There is also a blues that places Ervin in the Texas tenor pantheon, and classic bebop on the title track from a quintet with Carmell Jones and Gildo Mahones.

with Carmell Jones, Jaki Byard, Gildo Mahones, Richard Davis, Alan Dawson