My jazz tastes were always pretty narrow - Coltrane, Bird, Weather Report - big name almost exclusively until I took up tenor sax some years back and then started trawling through the sax players increasingly impressed by Fifties and Sixties Jazz especially. Discovering Lucky Thompson, Tubby Hayes and Hank Mobley were epecially welcome and the juxtaposition of trumpet and sax turned me on to a whole raft of trumpet players. So when I heard Freddie Hubard's Cd "Open Sesame" I was stunned by the lyrical tenor sax player jousting with him. Who was this Tina Brooks?

A search through ebay nabbed me three of the man's CDs and I managed to get the rarer "Minor Move" as well. The guy us a a revelation! No rush to the head here speedwise but long lyrical lines and a wonderful tunesmith to boot. Go listen to "Back to the Tracks". Just superb! "True Blue" too has some excellent stuff on it - and Freddie Hubbard too!

I'm now searching out his dates with Jackie McLean and Kenny Burrell - but what a waste. He only ever made four sessions as leader (though since Open Sesame was all penned by him this really should count as a Brooks session as well).

Go find!

Go enjoy!

Anyone else out there feel the way I do about this musical genius?

there's plenty of love for Tina in these parts

Minor Move has been Album of the Week, plenty of discussion if you follow this link

Me too. Such a beautiful sound! Such a great sense of melody and structure! Such a shame he left us so young so long ago!

Definitely, ever since I purchased the Mosaic LP set.

You also need the session with Jackie McLean (Jackie's Bag) and the Jimmy Smith jam session (Cool Blues).

One of my favorite Tenors. A beautiful, soulful tone. He could put together a great solo.

I have nothing but kind things to say about Tina Brooks. He's the guy who really got me interested in mainstream jazz.

Up over and out.

I think his drug problem had something to do with his limited amount of sessions as a leader. He is a great tenor player. Try to track down "Street Singer". He great on this session. I think the recent RVG of Jackie McLean's Jackie's Bag has a few tracks from that session on it.

I'm a Tina "completist".
Many hours of enjoyment.

Talking to Brooks' friend and musical associate trumpeter Oliver Beener while working on the notes for "Minor Move," I was told by Beener that the cause of Brooks' death was "general dissipation." That doesn't explicitly say drug use, but it seems likely that drug use was part of the picture.

Still waiting for the reissue of 'The Connection' album he recorded with Freddie Redd (and Howard McGhee) for Felsted. My secondhand copy is slowly giving up.

I thought it was clear from the Mosaic essay that as much as Alfred felt that Tina's was a voice worth hearing, he didn't get the attention of the audience or get much of a critical response, and eventually Alfred gave up on trying to elevate his position.

I seem to recall Bill Fenohr telling me that True Blue got a pretty mediocre review in Down Beat. Its only with hindsight, and the work of Michael C., that we recognize Tina as a unique talent of considerable skill.

wait a minute, hbjazz are you saying that his drug problem was because of his limited amount of sessions as a leader or that his limited amount of sessions as a leader was because of his drug problem?

Sorry if I muddied the waters here by not reading the initial question carefully enough. On the other hand, if drug use barred a musician from having albums released by Blue Note (or made it much less likely), where would that have left any number of Blue Note regulars, from Blakey on down? Almost certainly, Brooks' drug use (if, as seems likely, there was some) had nothing to do with Blue Note not releasing anything under his own name after "True Blue." Drug use would have been a problem with Blue Note only if it prevented a musician from showing up at rehearsals and in the studio in shape to play.

well Hans, it does state "The inevitable short hospital and prison stays would keep him off the music scene intermittently," and so the drugs and the recording may indeed "have to do" with each other. Nevertheless, there are little facts about his drug related problems (prison, hospital, when? how long?)

DAVID H. ROSENTHAL (Hard Bop, Oxford University Press, 1992 link) seems to want to point out that the jail and hospital bouts were part of the post BN era as he only mentions them in his last paragraph:

By 1962, Brooks' career as a recording artist was over. Nonetheless, he continued to appear at Bronx jazz spots like the Blue Morocco, Freddie's Bar, and the 845 Club with Hope, Beener, and others. Heroin addiction--complete with spells in jail and in hospitals--limited his professional activity during the rest of his life. The official cause of his death in 1974 was kidney failure. He had been too ill to play for several years.

No mention of large drug related problems during his recording years (1958-1961). My guess is the lack of success put the guy down and that somewhat dissilusioned he turned to second rate clubs and R&B bands to earn a living.

When and how long was he in that Connection play?

Yes, under Howard McGhee's name, "The Connection" has been out on Boplicity, and it is a short and sweet cd!

This is what I found.

"During 1959 and '60, Tina was the understudy for Jackie McLean in Jack Gelber's play The Connection, which was presented by The Living Theater. The pianist, composer, and musical director was Freddie Redd."

Michael Cuscuna stated in his notes to the Mosaic box set that Alfred Lion couldn't remember the exact reason why "Back To The Tracks" was not released - it had an issue number, a cover design made and was advertised. He thought so many things were happening in those days.
"Minor Move", I think, was not released due to the hiss in the ride cymbal - Rudy Van Gelder had recorded at too high a level.
Brooks not really being a presence on the scene and thus not really being able to promote his albums may have been a reason. Lion skipped albums by artists after they had dropped off the scene or died, i.e. Leo Parker, Ike Quebec, Sonny Clark ... But many Blue Note artists were recorded more often than they could release on a realistic level.

i'd really like to read the mosaic booklet on tina

ss1

There was a Dizzy Gillespie Down Beat Blindfold Test where Leonard Feather played a track from one of the Blue Note jam session albums that Brooks appeared on, maybe Burrell's "Blue Lights" or Jimmy Smith's "House Party." Dizzy dug Brooks' solo and asked Feather who that was. Leonard told him, and Dizzy said: "Tina Brooks? Is that a LADY?"

I'd never heard of the version of "The Connection" with Tina playing on it. Its not in the discograpohy I have. Is it readily available?

sorry just noticed reference to Howard McGee CD. Will chase it up

Here's that original Felsted cover:


and the Boplicity CD cover: