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{{Short description|American jazz saxophonist and composer}}
{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Tina Brooks
| name = Tina Brooks
Line 9: Line 10:
| birth_place = [[Fayetteville, North Carolina]], United States
| birth_place = [[Fayetteville, North Carolina]], United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|1974|8|13|1932|6|7}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1974|8|13|1932|6|7}}
| death_place = New York City, New York
| death_place = [[New York City]], New York
| instrument = [[Tenor saxophone]]
| instrument = [[Tenor saxophone]]
| genre = [[Hard bop]]
| genre = [[Hard bop]]
Line 15: Line 16:
| years_active = 1951–1961
| years_active = 1951–1961
| label = [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]]
| label = [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]]
| associated_acts = [[Freddie Hubbard]]<br/>[[Jackie McLean]]<br/>[[Freddie Redd]]<br/>[[Kenny Burrell]]<br/>[[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]]
| past_member_of = [[Freddie Hubbard]]<br/>[[Jackie McLean]]<br/>[[Freddie Redd]]<br/>[[Kenny Burrell]]<br/>[[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]]
| website =
| website =
| current_members =
| current_members =
| past_members =
| past_members =
}}
}}'''Harold Floyd''' "'''Tina'''" '''Brooks''' (June 7, 1932 – August 13, 1974) was an American [[hard bop]], [[blues]], and [[funk]] tenor [[saxophonist]] and composer.

'''Harold Floyd''' "'''Tina'''" '''Brooks''' (June 7, 1932 – August 13, 1974)<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=62}}</ref> was an American jazz tenor [[saxophonist]] and composer best remembered for his work in the [[hard bop]] style.


==Early years==
==Early years==
Harold Floyd Brooks was born in [[Fayetteville, North Carolina]], and was the brother of [[David "Bubba" Brooks]]. The nickname "Tina", pronounced ''Teena'', was a variation of "Teeny", a childhood moniker. His favourite tune was "My Devotion".<ref name="liner">Original 1980 liner notes to ''[[Minor Move]]'' by Lawrence Kart</ref> He studied harmony and theory with Herbert Bourne.<ref name="liner" />
Harold Floyd Brooks was born in [[Fayetteville, North Carolina]],<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> and was the brother of [[David "Bubba" Brooks]]. The nickname "Tina", pronounced ''Teena'', was a variation of "Teeny", a childhood moniker.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> His favourite tune was "My Devotion".<ref name="liner">Original 1980 liner notes to ''[[Minor Move]]'' by Lawrence Kart</ref> He studied harmony and theory with Herbert Bourne.<ref name="liner" />


Initially, he studied the [[C-melody saxophone]], 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 pianist [[Sonny Thompson]], and in 1955 Brooks played with vibraphonist [[Lionel Hampton]]. Brooks also received less formal guidance from trumpeter and composer [[Benny Harris|"Little" Benny Harris]], who led the saxophonist to his first recording as a leader. Harris, in fact, was the one who recommended him to [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]] producer [[Alfred Lion]] in 1958.<ref name="liner" /><ref>{{cite book| last = Sheridan| first = Chris| title = The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz| publisher = St. Martin's Press| year = 1988| page = [https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona00kernf/page/154 154]| doi = | isbn = 0-333-63231-1| url = https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona00kernf/page/154}}</ref>
Initially, he studied the [[C-melody saxophone]],<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> 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 pianist [[Sonny Thompson]], and in 1955 Brooks played with vibraphonist [[Lionel Hampton]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Brooks also received less-formal guidance from trumpeter and composer [[Benny Harris|"Little" Benny Harris]], who led the saxophonist to his first recording as a leader.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Harris recommended Brooks to [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]] producer [[Alfred Lion]] in 1958.<ref name="liner" /><ref>{{cite book| last = Sheridan| first = Chris| title = The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz| publisher = St. Martin's Press| year = 1988| page = [https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona00kernf/page/154 154]| isbn = 0-333-63231-1| url = https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona00kernf/page/154}}</ref>


==Recordings==
==Recordings==
Brooks is best known for his work for the [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]] label between 1958 and 1961, recording as a sideman with [[Kenny Burrell]], [[Freddie Hubbard]], [[Jackie McLean]], [[Freddie Redd]], and [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]]. Around the same period, Brooks was McLean's understudy in ''[[The Connection (1959 play)|The Connection]]'', a play by [[Jack Gelber]] with music by Redd, and performed on [[Music from the Connection|an album]] of music from the play on [[Felsted Records]], a session which also featured [[Howard McGhee]].
Brooks is best known for his recordings for the Blue Note label between 1958 and 1961, recording as a sideman with [[Kenny Burrell]], [[Freddie Hubbard]], [[Jackie McLean]], [[Freddie Redd]], and [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Around the same period, Brooks was McLean's understudy in ''[[The Connection (1959 play)|The Connection]]'', a play by [[Jack Gelber]] with music by Redd, and performed on [[Music from the Connection|an album]] of music from the play on [[Felsted Records]], a session which also featured [[Howard 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 the [[Van Gelder Studio]] in [[Hackensack, New Jersey]], and featured trumpeter [[Lee Morgan]] alongside seasoned professionals such as [[Sonny Clark]], [[Doug Watkins]] and [[Art Blakey]]. Despite the calibre of the players and the quality of the output, ''[[Minor Move]]'' was not released for more than two decades, several years after Brooks had died. This started an unfortunate trend, as the other three of his four other sessions (''[[Street Singer (album)|Street Singer]]'', ''[[Back to the Tracks]]'' and ''[[The Waiting Game (Tina Brooks album)|The Waiting Game]]'') did not appear during his lifetime. The exception was ''[[True Blue (Tina Brooks Album)|True Blue]]'', a session recorded on June 25, 1960 with [[Freddie Hubbard]], [[Duke Jordan]], [[Sam Jones (musician)|Sam Jones]] and [[Art Taylor]]. The release of ''True Blue'' coincided with the release of Hubbard's Blue Note debut album, ''[[Open Sesame (Freddie Hubbard album)|Open Sesame]]'' (also featuring Brooks, who wrote the opening title track as well as "Gypsy Blue"), and was not actively promoted.<ref>Jack Chambers [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chambers/tinabrooks.html "Who Killed Tina Brooks?"], ''Coda'', 321, May/June 2005, p.12-16, 37</ref>
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 the [[Van Gelder Studio]] in [[Hackensack, New Jersey]], and featured trumpeter [[Lee Morgan]] alongside seasoned professionals such as [[Sonny Clark]], [[Doug Watkins]] and [[Art Blakey]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> 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 (album)|Street Singer]]'', ''[[Back to the Tracks]]'' and ''[[The Waiting Game (Tina Brooks album)|The Waiting Game]]'') did not appear during his lifetime.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> The exception was ''[[True Blue (Tina Brooks Album)|True Blue]]'', a session recorded on June 25, 1960 with [[Freddie Hubbard]], [[Duke Jordan]], [[Sam Jones (musician)|Sam Jones]] and [[Art Taylor]]. The release of ''True Blue'' coincided with the release of Hubbard's Blue Note debut album, ''[[Open Sesame (Freddie Hubbard album)|Open Sesame]]'' (also featuring Brooks, who wrote the opening title track as well as "Gypsy Blue"), and was not actively promoted.<ref>Jack Chambers [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chambers/tinabrooks.html "Who Killed Tina Brooks?"], ''Coda'', 321, May/June 2005, p.12-16, 37</ref>


Brooks did not record after 1961. Plagued by heroin dependency, and gradually deteriorating health, he died of liver failure aged 42.
Brooks did not record after 1961. Plagued by heroin dependency, and gradually deteriorating health, he died of liver failure at age 42.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>


==Legacy==
==Legacy and Musical Revival==
[[Michael Cuscuna]] in 1985, through [[Mosaic Records]], released a boxset of Brooks' recordings as leader; the limited edition is out of print. The interest in Brooks' music has also led to releases of the unissued sessions through Blue Note Japan and on CD in Blue Note's Connoisseur series.
Until 1980, ''True Blue'' remained the only Brooks album commercially released. In 1980, Blue Note Japan released the ''Minor Move'' and ''Street Singer'' albums, the latter jointly credited to Jackie McLean. In 1985, [[Mosaic Records]] released ''The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of The Tina Brooks Quintets'' on a 4-LP set, which made ''Back to the Tracks'' and ''The Waiting Game'' available for the first time. The Mosaic set, a limited edition produced by [[Michael 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 of ''Back 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."<ref>Michael Cuscuna (1998) Liner note for Tina Brooks ''Back to the Tracks'', Blue Note CD 21737.</ref>
In the liner notes for the CD release of ''Back 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."<ref>Michael Cuscuna (1998) Liner note for Tina Brooks ''Back to the Tracks'', Blue Note CD 21737.</ref>
Line 40: Line 43:
[[David H. Rosenthal|David Rosenthal]] in his book ''Hard 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."<ref>David H. Rosenthal (1992), ''Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965'', New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 127, 126.</ref>
[[David H. Rosenthal|David Rosenthal]] in his book ''Hard 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."<ref>David H. Rosenthal (1992), ''Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965'', New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 127, 126.</ref>


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."<ref>{{cite web|title=Blue Note Records|url=http://www.bluenote.com/ArtistBiography.aspx?ArtistId=901707|publisher=Bluenote.com|accessdate=2013-08-09|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303163658/http://www.bluenote.com/ArtistBiography.aspx?ArtistId=901707|archivedate=2012-03-03}}</ref>
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."<ref>{{cite web|title=Blue Note Records|url=http://www.bluenote.com/ArtistBiography.aspx?ArtistId=901707|publisher=Bluenote.com|access-date=2013-08-09|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303163658/http://www.bluenote.com/ArtistBiography.aspx?ArtistId=901707|archive-date=2012-03-03}}</ref>


==Discography==
==Discography==
All on [[Blue Note Records]], unless otherwise indicated.
All on [[Blue Note Records]], unless otherwise indicated.


===As leader or co-leader===
=== As leader/co-leader ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
*''[[Minor Move]]'' (1958 [rel. 1980]) with [[Lee Morgan]]
! Recording date
*''[[True Blue (Tina Brooks album)|True Blue]]'' (1960) with [[Freddie Hubbard]]
! Title
*''[[Street Singer (album)|Street Singer]]'' (1960 [rel. 1980]) with [[Jackie McLean]]
<!-- ! Label-->
*''[[Back to the Tracks]]'' (1960 [rel. 1998])
! Year released
*''[[The Waiting Game (Tina Brooks album)|The Waiting Game]]'' (1961 [rel. 2002])
! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| 1958-03-16 || ''[[Minor Move]]'' || 1980 ||
|-
| 1960-06-25 || ''[[True Blue (Tina Brooks album)|True Blue]]'' || 1960 ||
|-
| 1960-09-01 || ''[[Street Singer (album)|Street Singer]]'' with [[Jackie McLean]] ||1980 || Japan only
|-
| 1960-09-01, <br/>1960-10-20 || ''[[Back to the Tracks]]'' || 1998 ||
|-
| 1961-03-02 || ''[[The Waiting Game (Tina Brooks album)|The Waiting Game]]'' || 1999 || Initially Japan only
|}


===As sideman===
=== As sideman ===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
'''With [[Kenny Burrell]]'''
'''With [[Kenny Burrell]]'''
*''[[Swingin' (Kenny Burrell album)|Swingin']]'' (1956–1959)
* ''[[Blue Lights (album)|Blue Lights Volume 1 & 2]]'' (1958)
*''[[Blue Lights (album)|Blue Lights Volume 1 & 2]]'' (1958)
* ''[[On View at the Five Spot Cafe]]'' (1959) – live
* ''[[Swingin' (Kenny Burrell album)|Swingin']]'' (1980) – rec. 1956–59
*''[[On View at the Five Spot Cafe]]'' (1959)

'''With [[Freddie Hubbard]]'''
*''[[Open Sesame (Freddie Hubbard album)|Open Sesame]]'' (1960)

'''With [[Howard McGhee]]'''
*''[[Music from the Connection]]'' (Felsted Records, 1960)

'''With [[Jackie McLean]]'''
*''[[Jackie's Bag]]'' (1960)


'''With [[Freddie Redd]]'''
'''With [[Freddie Redd]]'''
*''[[Shades of Redd]]'' (1960) with Jackie McLean
* ''[[Shades of Redd]]'' (1960)
*''[[Redd's Blues]]'' (1961 [rel. 1988])
* ''[[Redd's Blues]]'' (1988) – rec. 1961


'''With [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]]'''
'''With [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]]'''
*''[[House Party (Jimmy Smith album)|House Party]]'' (1957–1958)
* ''[[House Party (Jimmy Smith album)|House Party]]'' (1958) – rec. 1957-58
*''[[The Sermon (Jimmy Smith album)|The Sermon!]]'' (1957–1958)
* ''[[The Sermon (Jimmy Smith album)|The Sermon!]]'' (1959) – rec. 1957-58
*''[[Cool Blues]]'' (1958 [rel. 1980])
* ''[[Cool Blues]]'' (1980) – rec. 1958
{{col-2}}

'''With Sonny Thompson'''
'''With others'''
* [[Freddie Hubbard]], ''[[Open Sesame (Freddie Hubbard album)|Open Sesame]]'' (1960)
*''Sonny Thompson and his Orchestra'' (King Records, 1951)
* [[Howard McGhee]], ''[[Music from the Connection]]'' (Felsted, 1960)
* [[Jackie McLean]], ''[[Jackie's Bag]]'' (1961) – rec. 1959–60
* Sonny Thompson, ''Sonny Thompson and his Orchestra'' (King, 1951)
{{col-end}}


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Hard bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Hard bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Bronx]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Bronx]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New York City]]
[[Category:Post-bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Post-bop saxophonists]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver failure]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American saxophonists]]
[[Category:20th-century saxophonists]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American male saxophonists]]
[[Category:American male saxophonists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:Male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:American male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]

Latest revision as of 05:24, 7 June 2024

Tina Brooks
Photo by Francis Wolff
Photo by Francis Wolff
Background information
Birth nameHarold Floyd Brooks
Also known asTina Brooks
Born(1932-06-07)June 7, 1932
Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States
DiedAugust 13, 1974(1974-08-13) (aged 42)
New York City, New York
GenresHard bop
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, bandleader
InstrumentTenor saxophone
Years active1951–1961
LabelsBlue Note
Formerly ofFreddie Hubbard
Jackie McLean
Freddie Redd
Kenny Burrell
Jimmy Smith

Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks (June 7, 1932 – August 13, 1974)[1] was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer best remembered for his work in the hard bop style.

Early years

[edit]

Harold Floyd Brooks was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina,[1] and was the brother of David "Bubba" Brooks. The nickname "Tina", pronounced Teena, 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 the C-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 pianist Sonny Thompson, and in 1955 Brooks played with vibraphonist Lionel 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 to Blue Note producer Alfred Lion in 1958.[2][3]

Recordings

[edit]

Brooks is best known for his recordings for the Blue Note label between 1958 and 1961, recording as a sideman with Kenny Burrell, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Freddie Redd, and Jimmy Smith.[1] Around the same period, Brooks was McLean's understudy in The Connection, a play by Jack Gelber with music by Redd, and performed on an album of music from the play on Felsted Records, a session which also featured Howard 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 the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, and featured trumpeter Lee Morgan alongside seasoned professionals such as Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins and Art 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 and The Waiting Game) did not appear during his lifetime.[1] The exception was True Blue, a session recorded on June 25, 1960 with Freddie Hubbard, Duke Jordan, Sam Jones and Art Taylor. The release of True 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]

Legacy and Musical Revival

[edit]

Until 1980, True Blue remained the only Brooks album commercially released. In 1980, Blue Note Japan released the Minor Move and Street Singer albums, the latter jointly credited to Jackie McLean. In 1985, Mosaic Records released The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of The Tina Brooks Quintets on a 4-LP set, which made Back to the Tracks and The Waiting Game available for the first time. The Mosaic set, a limited edition produced by Michael 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 of Back 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 book Hard 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]

Discography

[edit]

All on Blue Note Records, unless otherwise indicated.

As leader/co-leader

[edit]
Recording date Title Year released Notes
1958-03-16 Minor Move 1980
1960-06-25 True Blue 1960
1960-09-01 Street Singer with Jackie 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

As sideman

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
  2. ^ a b c Original 1980 liner notes to Minor Move by Lawrence Kart
  3. ^ Sheridan, Chris (1988). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. St. Martin's Press. p. 154. ISBN 0-333-63231-1.
  4. ^ Jack Chambers "Who Killed Tina Brooks?", Coda, 321, May/June 2005, p.12-16, 37
  5. ^ Michael Cuscuna (1998) Liner note for Tina Brooks Back to the Tracks, Blue Note CD 21737.
  6. ^ David H. Rosenthal (1992), Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 127, 126.
  7. ^ "Blue Note Records". Bluenote.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
[edit]