Another shooting star in the Jazz sky. Harold Floyd (Tina) Brooks (pronounced sure enough Teena), killed himself off pretty quick. But before the narcotics brought the curtain down, he managed to produce some awesome jazz. I have been enjoying Minor Move for some time now. There is something about Tina's tenor that is unusual, and I can't quite pin it down. He presents that beautiful and sad face of someone who is trying to catch something. But it's more than that. Maybe you can figure it out.
Minor Move was a piece of genius. Recorded in Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, about nine months after I was born, it was right at the temporal epicenter of modern jazz. Lee Morgan, another tragedy in the making, played trumpet. Sonny Clark played the piano, and Doug Watkins was on bass. Art Blakey played drums, putting the signature on the vintage.
Here, for a sample, is the title cut:
Tina Brooks/Minor Move/Minor Move
this is the weakest of brooks 4 dates as a leader, but it's still good. his other sessions feature more of his terrific originals. i tend to dock this one a notch because most of it is standards. as good as the playing here is, these versions of star eyes, the way you look tonight and everything happens to me are not especially essential.
ReplyDelete