No other category of artist in American history had to fight harder to have his or her creativity recognized than top jazz musicians. This war was waged on three fronts—with themselves, with the culture and with their record label. If any one of these three battles was lost, the other two often collapsed as well.
In the 1940s and '50s, the battle with one's self meant steering clear of drug addiction. The battle with the culture was the struggle to be accepted by an ever-shrinking audience while maintaining an aura of cool and detachment. And the third, the battle to be recorded and promoted often was determined by a range of factors: the label's existing pipeline, how much of the artist's work as a sideman was already on the market, the ability to tour aggressively to promote a new record, and the artist's need for cash advances against recordings of future albums.
Few gifted jazz artists lost this three-pronged battle faster and harder than Tina Brooks. Between 1958 and 1961, the tenor saxophonist recorded four albums as a leader, for Blue Note, but only one was released during his lifetime—True Blue. The others languished on the shelf at Blue Note, where they were discovered in the 1980s by re-issue producer Michael Cuscuna and released. [Photo above of Tina Brooks by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]
The reasons why the other three weren't released vary. My guess is Blue Note didn't want to flood the market with his recordings for fear his output could cannibalize the recordings of Hank Mobley, Blue Note's star saxophonist. In addition, Brooks may have pushed to record the others early because he needed the cash. In effect, this was an advance in trade for albums to be released at Blue Note's discretion. As the youth culture and pop rock and soul surged starting in the early 1960s, Blue Note began to face financial difficulties and reduce its number of releases.
This brings us back to the first battle mentioned. Brooks fell into heroin use around the time he was recording and his dependency continued despite his deteriorating health. Brooks didn't record again after 1961, and he died in 1974 at age 42. As you'll hear on this album masterpiece, his addiction and slide into the abyss was a terrible loss for jazz. If not for the late Michael Cuscuna, we likely wouldn't have heard Brooks's other works until well into the 2000s.
The tracks (all compositions by Tina Brooks except the last):
- Good Old Soul
- Up Tight's Creek
- Theme for Doris
- True Blue
- Miss Hazel
- Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You (Jack Segal, Marvin Fisher)
Personnel:
Tina Brooks (ts), Freddie Hubbard (tp), Duke Jordan (p), Sam Jones (b) and Art Taylor (d)
Here's the A side of True Blue...
And here's the B side...
Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:
- Sammy Davis Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays, go here.
- Paul Quinichette: Moods, go here.
- Jimmy Forrest: Forrest Fire!, go here.
- Brazilian Jazz Quartet: Coffee and Jazz, go here.
- Art Blakey!!! Jazz Messengers!!!, go here.
- Sidney Bechet/Martial Solal, go here.
- John Carisi: The New Jazz Sound Of "Show Boat," go here.
- The Marty Paich Quartet, Featuring Art Pepper, go here.
- João Gilberto, 1998, go here.
- Bobby Timmons: Soul Time, go here.
- Gerry Mulligan: Jeru, go here.
- Ray Bryant: Alone With the Blues, go here.
- Leon Spencer Jr.: Bad Walking Woman, go here.
- Jimmy McGriff: Step 1, go here.
- Johnny "Hammond" Smith: Breakout, go here.
- Oliver Nelson: Taking Care of Business, go here.
- Quincy Jones: Americans in Paris, go here.
- Sonny Stitt: Tune-Up!, go here.
- Herbie Mann: Yardbird Suite, go here.
- Quincy Jones: Twilight Time, go here.
- Lou Levy Quartet: Jazz in Four Colors, go here.
- Johnny Alf: Rapaz de Bem, go here.
- Hank Mobley: Poppin', go here.
- Barney Kessel: Kessel's Kit, go here.
- Larry Young: Into Somethin', go here.
- Henry Mancini: The Jazz Sound From Peter Gunn, go here.
- Sonny Stitt: Night Crawler, go here.
- Maynard Ferguson: Around the Horn, go here.
- Frank Rosolino: Franky Speaking!, go here.
- Ben Webster: King of the Tenors, go here.
- Kenny Dorham: Una Mas, go here.
- Gigi Gryce: Nica's Tempo, go here.
- Charlie Parker With Strings: The Master Takes, go here.
- The Great Jazz Piano of Phineas Newborn Jr., go here.
- The Complete Chet Baker Sings, go here.
- Shorty Rogers Courts the Count, go here.
- Miles Ahead: Miles Davis +19, go here.
- Kenny Burrell, Jazzmen - Detroit, go here.
- Bill Watrous, In Love Again, go here.
- Gene Ammons, Boss Tenor, go here.
- Roy Eldridge: The Strolling Mr. Eldridge, go here.
- Clifford Brown and Max Roach with Sonny Rollins, go here.
- Fats Navarro: Nostalgia, go here.
- Hank Mobley: Hank Mobley Quintet, go here.
- Sandy Mosse: Relaxin' With..., go here.
- Maynard Ferguson: A Message From Newport, go here.
- Jimmy Raney: Two Jims and Zoot, go here.
- Zoot Sims Plays 4 Altos, go here.
- Jimmy Forrest: Out of the Forrest, go here.
- Jazz Studio 2, From Hollywood, go here.
- Billy Taylor: My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, go here.
- Hank Mobley: Soul Station, go here.
- Sylvia Telles, Lúcio Alves and Roberto Menescal: Bossa Session, go here.
- Horace Silver: The Horace Silver Trio, go here.
- Walter Davis: Davis Cup, go here.
- Wynton Kelly: Kelly at Midnite, go here.
- Jack Sheldon: Jack's Groove, go here.
- Herbie Nichols: Complete Masters, go here.
- Hank Mobley: Hank Mobley Quartet, go here.
- Mundell Lowe: Satan in High Heels, go here.
- Hal McKusick and Art Farmer: Quintet Sessions, go here.
- Os Poligonais: Os Poligonais, go here.
- Buddy Fite: Tasty, go here.
- Al Sears: Swing's the Thing, go here.
- A.K. Salim: Complete Savoy Recordings, go here.
- Rosinha de Valença, go here.
- Remo Rau, Evening at Cafe Africana, go here.
- Georgie Auld, Plays the Winners, go here.
- Complete Oscar Pettiford Orchestra, go here.
- East Coast - West Coast Scene, go here.
- O'Donel Levy: Black Velvet, go here.
- Sonny Rollins: Alfie, go here.
- Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By, go here.
- Complete Grant Green and Sonny Clark Quartets, go here.
- Marge Dodson: A Lovely Way to Live, go here.
- Sal Salvador: Colors in Sound, go here.
- Sam Lazar: Playback, go here.
- Joe Puma: East Coast Jazz/3, go here.
