1965 · Album
Setting the Pace
Recorded 1965 in Munich · Prestige · Critical Reception: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: 3.5/4
Booker Ervin Takes the Lead in Munich
Ervin steps outside the changes and claims the session as his own, even with Gordon in the room.
When two tenor saxophonists meet in a studio, there's always a question about who the session belongs to. Dexter Gordon had the bigger name and the longer history, but on Setting the Pace, recorded in Munich in 1965, it's Booker Ervin who defines what happens. Gordon plays well—he's solid, swinging, in control—but Ervin is the one taking risks. He pushes beyond the harmonic boundaries, ventures into territory that makes the music unpredictable. That willingness to go outside, to test the edges of what a standard progression can hold, is what gives this album its character.
Ervin had been working steadily through the early sixties, but he hadn't yet reached the wider audience his playing deserved. Recording opposite someone of Gordon's stature could have been intimidating, a chance to play it safe and secure a credit. Instead, he used it as a platform to show what set him apart—a rawer, more exploratory approach than Gordon's cleaner swing. The AllMusic reviewer caught this immediately: Gordon is in good form, but Ervin wins honors. It's the kind of assessment that doesn't make an album famous, but it matters to the people who find it.
This isn't a landmark recording or a definitive statement from either player. It's a working session where two musicians with different approaches to the same instrument found enough common ground to make something worth hearing. Ervin's willingness to take the music outside is exactly what saves it from being just another blowing date. For listeners curious about Ervin beyond his later, better-known work, this is genuine proof of what he could do.
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