Minor Move [Original recording remastered]

Tina Brooks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 15, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B00004GJVO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,889 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid album from a forgotten fallen star, August 11, 2000

By 

"jazzfanmn" (St Cloud, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minor Move (Audio CD)

Jazz music is fraught with young promising talent taken from the world way before their time. Tina Brooks fell prey to addiction just as he was coming into his prime, leaving us with a glimpse of what might have been. Brooks' tone on tenor is somewhere between Lester Young and Hank Mobley, with a hint of Charlie Parker. His performance is solid and he interacts well with his impressive collection of sidemen. Art Blakey's drums and Doug Watkins' bass propel Brooks' tenor, Sonny Clark's piano, and Lee Morgan's brash bright trumpet through two Brooks originals and a trio of standards. This is a solid and very enjoyable set of straight ahead hard bop in the Blue Note mold, and makes on wonder what might have been had Brooks' lived longer.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unknown master, June 2, 2000

By 

Joerg Colberg (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minor Move (Audio CD)

I admit I bought this CD because of Tina Brook's sidemen. Of course, everybody knows Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan, or Art Blakey, but Tina Brooks? Who is Tina Brooks? It is a shame he didn't nearly get as popular as other tenor sax players of the Hard Bop area. I guess one of the reasons might be that people just didn't get to hear him that often. If I understand it correctly, this album was first published in Japan in 1980. Which is a shame because it is so good that it should have become a real classic much earlier. Among all the Blue Note sessions I know there are quite a few which are way less interesting than this one. Tina Brooks and his sidemen create a very nice atmosphere which is fairly relaxed and it swings a lot. Art Blakey on the drums is superb as usual, Sonny Clark and Lee Morgan deliver very good performances, and Tina Brooks introduces you to his way of playing the tenor sax. Very nice.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brooks' Best, March 9, 2004

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minor Move (Audio CD)

If you're interested in Tina Brooks, you might begin and end with this outstanding session. It's clearly superior, IMO, to "Waiting Game," "Back to the Tracks," and even the fabled "True Blue" (which I found slightly disappointing). One has only to look at the program--three durable standards plus two originals and an alternate take by Brooks--along with the personnel to see what's special about this session. Moreover, Brooks on this occasion is as strong as he is inventive, playing with a Mobley-like soulful sweetness flavored by a pungent, slightly acid aftertaste reminiscent of colleague and mentor Jackie McLean. This is the first time I've been able to understand why some Brooks' supporters claim him as an "if only" potential rival to Rollins, Coltrane or Mobley.

Morgan is equally creative, inspiring Brooks but also being spurred on to some of his most melodic work. The self-consciously "cute" affectations characteristic of his "Moanin'" date with Blakey (recorded the same year) are far less in evidence on this more flowing, straight-shooting session.

As for the rhythm section, Sonny Clark's spare but inventive lines validate his cult status. Blakey and the sublime Doug Watkins prove once again that they shared a unique pulse that should have been recorded more often (listen to their vibrant beat on "The Transition Sessions"). Chambers and Philly Joe are the only two contemporaries I can think of who occasionally enter the same time zone--a kind of buoyant, suspended groove that lifts the music into a new dimension.

Truth be told, I have enough quintets featuring the unmistakable "Van Gelder sound" to last me several lifetimes. But if there's room for one more, this isn't a bad choice at all.

Final clincher: Larry Kart's liner notes from the 1980 reissue are some of the most literate, informative, insightful comments you're likely to see by a jazz writer. Small wonder he decided to apply his talents elsewhere.