Tina Brooks | |
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![]() Photo byFrancis Wolff | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Harold Floyd Brooks |
Also known as | Tina Brooks |
Born | (1932-06-07)June 7, 1932 Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States |
Died | August 13, 1974(1974-08-13) (aged 42) New York City, New York |
Genres | Hard bop |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, bandleader |
Instrument | Tenor saxophone |
Years active | 1951–1961 |
Labels | Blue Note |
Formerly of | Freddie Hubbard Jackie McLean Freddie Redd Kenny Burrell Jimmy Smith |
Harold Floyd "Tina"Brooks (June 7, 1932 – August 13, 1974)[1] was an American jazz tenorsaxophonist and composer best remembered for his work in thehard bop style.
Harold Floyd Brooks was born inFayetteville, North Carolina,[1] and was the brother ofDavid "Bubba" Brooks. The nickname "Tina", pronouncedTeena, was a variation of "Teeny", a childhood moniker.[1] His favourite tune was "My Devotion".[2] He studied harmony and theory with Herbert Bourne.[2]
Initially, he studied theC-melody saxophone,[1] which he began playing shortly after he moved to New York with his family in 1944. Brooks' first professional work came in 1951 with rhythm and blues pianistSonny Thompson, and in 1955 Brooks played with vibraphonistLionel Hampton.[1] Brooks also received less-formal guidance from trumpeter and composer"Little" Benny Harris, who led the saxophonist to his first recording as a leader.[1] Harris recommended Brooks toBlue Note producerAlfred Lion in 1958.[2][3]
Brooks is best known for his recordings for the Blue Note label between 1958 and 1961, recording as a sideman withKenny Burrell,Freddie Hubbard,Jackie McLean,Freddie Redd, andJimmy Smith.[1] Around the same period, Brooks was McLean's understudy inThe Connection, a play byJack Gelber with music by Redd, and performed onan album of music from the play onFelsted Records, a session which also featuredHoward McGhee.
Brooks recorded five sessions of his own for Blue Note (including one jointly with McLean). The first session was recorded on March 16, 1958 at theVan Gelder Studio inHackensack, New Jersey, and featured trumpeterLee Morgan alongside seasoned professionals such asSonny Clark,Doug Watkins andArt Blakey.[1] However, for unknown reasons,Minor Move was not released for more than two decades, several years after Brooks had died. This started an unfortunate trend, as three of his four other sessions (Street Singer,Back to the Tracks andThe Waiting Game) did not appear during his lifetime.[1] The exception wasTrue Blue, a session recorded on June 25, 1960 withFreddie Hubbard,Duke Jordan,Sam Jones andArt Taylor. The release ofTrue Blue coincided with the release of Hubbard's Blue Note debut album,Open Sesame (also featuring Brooks, who wrote the opening title track as well as "Gypsy Blue"), and was not actively promoted.[4]
Brooks did not record after 1961. Plagued by heroin dependency, and gradually deteriorating health, he died of liver failure at age 42.[1]
Until 1980,True Blue remained the only Brooks album commercially released. In 1980, Blue Note Japan released theMinor Move andStreet Singer albums, the latter jointly credited to Jackie McLean. In 1985,Mosaic Records releasedThe Complete Blue Note Recordings Of The Tina Brooks Quintets on a 4-LP set, which madeBack to the Tracks andThe Waiting Game available for the first time. The Mosaic set, a limited edition produced byMichael Cuscuna, is out of print. In the CD era, all of Brooks' Blue Note sessions as a leader or co-leader have been released on CD, including on releases by Blue Note Japan and Blue Note's Connoisseur series.
In the liner notes for the CD release ofBack to the Tracks, Cuscuna wrote: "Far lesser talents have been far more celebrated" and that Brooks "was a unique, sensitive improviser who could weave beautiful and complex tapestries through his horn. His lyricism, unity of ideas and inner logic were astounding."[5]
David Rosenthal in his bookHard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965 wrote about Brooks. Of his composition "Street Singer", Rosenthal wrote that it is "an authentic hard-bop classic" where "pathos, irony and rage come together in a performance at once anguished and sinister."[6]
The official Blue Note website says of Brooks: "With a strong, smooth tone and an amazing flow of fresh ideas every time he soloed, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks should have been a major jazz artist, but his legacy is confined to a series of dates that he did for Blue Note as a sideman and leader" and that he "was one of the most brilliant, if underrated, tenor saxophonists in modern jazz."[7]
All onBlue Note Records, unless otherwise indicated.
Recording date | Title | Year released | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1958-03-16 | Minor Move | 1980 | |
1960-06-25 | True Blue | 1960 | |
1960-09-01 | Street Singer withJackie McLean | 1980 | Japan only |
1960-09-01, 1960-10-20 | Back to the Tracks | 1998 | |
1961-03-02 | The Waiting Game | 1999 | Initially Japan only |
WithKenny Burrell
WithFreddie Redd
WithJimmy Smith
| With others
|