Tina Brooks

[Dub Modal]

I don't think anyone was making an issue of Brooks' sexuality but rather questioning whether that may have had something to do with what appears to be mistreatment by BN's owners at the time and/or others. The initial question was more indicting of Lion & Wolff, not Brooks. 

[Niko]

well, Lion and Wolff are pretty much what stands between Tina Brooks and oblivion... in those days, the US was full of totally amazing Hard Bop Tenor Players, give me a time machine and a lottery win - I'll produce you a handful of hard bop classics... if Tina Brooks isn't available, I'll track down Joe Alexander in Cleveland, Nat Perilliat in New Orleans or the right guys in Chicago, LA, SF or Philadelphia... so many potentially amazing hard bop records went unrecorded - and Tina Brooks and his four albums really don't look like the point where stuff went wrong... if Tina Brooks really just recorded four albums because he was gay, you really don't want to know what was wrong with all those guys who recorded nothing at all...

[felser]

Some of the locals you mention apparently weren't willing to upend their lives/family situations and do the NYC graveyard thing.  Philly has a tenor player named Larry McKenna who is amazing, but he has stayed in Philly.  Bootsie Barnes also.

[clifford_thornton]

3 hours ago, Dub Modal said:

I don't think anyone was making an issue of Brooks' sexuality but rather questioning whether that may have had something to do with what appears to be mistreatment by BN's owners at the time and/or others. The initial question was more indicting of Lion & Wolff, not Brooks. 

Correct. It's curiosity on my part, because as someone who's deeply connected to art/queerness in art, there are several clues that were leading me in that direction with regards to Tina Brooks.

[Holy Ghost]

On 4/4/2022 at 2:20 PM, Dub Modal said:

I don't think anyone was making an issue of Brooks' sexuality but rather questioning whether that may have had something to do with what appears to be mistreatment by BN's owners at the time and/or others. The initial question was more indicting of Lion & Wolff, not Brooks. 

Right Dub, I wasn't trying to exemplify this aspect either, all I was trying to say is that it doesn't matter to me; if I like the music, who cares?  Right?

[felser]

Per Brooks and BN, I believe I remember reading that 'True Blue' sold under 1,000 copies when it was released, and that is why they did not release the other dates - economically unfeasible.

[Holy Ghost]

6 minutes ago, felser said:

Per Brooks and BN, I believe I remember reading that 'True Blue' sold under 1,000 copies when it was released, and that is why they did not release the other dates - economically unfeasible.

Right, why it fetches those ridiculous prices at auction houses.  

[Kevin Bresnahan]

18 hours ago, felser said:

Per Brooks and BN, I believe I remember reading that 'True Blue' sold under 1,000 copies when it was released, and that is why they did not release the other dates - economically unfeasible.

Back in the late 80's, I got to know a jazz record collector who worked at a record store in Northampton, MA. He had a huge collection that included a bunch of rare Blue Notes. He told me that he had never seen an original of "True Blue".

[sidewinder]

A better bet is likely the Classic Records DG reissue. Probably plays a lot better than most of those original copies out there still in existence.

I think I came close to an original once. A store I used to deal with (no longer in existence) listed a number of Blue Notes about to come into their possession. One was ‘True Blue’ with the BLP mono number. I asked for an immediate ‘hold’ on it of course but when the collection came in - no sign of it. That was the best part of 20 years ago, before the recent madness really took off.

Edited April 10, 2022 by sidewinder

[porcy62]

5 hours ago, sidewinder said:

A better bet is likely the Classic Records DG reissue. Probably plays a lot better than most of those original copies out there still in existence.

Yes, sonically the Classic reissue are closer to originals then any other reissues I listened to, that doesn't mean that they are the best sounding out there.

[Dub Modal]

On 4/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, Holy Ghost said:

Right Dub, I wasn't trying to exemplify this aspect either, all I was trying to say is that it doesn't matter to me; if I like the music, who cares?  Right?

Indeed 

[soulpope]

On 4.4.2022 at 9:50 PM, felser said:

Philly has a tenor player named Larry McKenna who is amazing, but he has stayed in Philly.  Bootsie Barnes also.

Yep ....

[Larry Kart]

 

He and Barnes appear together on several very good CDs -- excellent trumpeter John Swana is the leader IIRC.

[Larry Kart]

Oops  --  Barnes and McKenna  appear together only on Swana's "Philly Gumbo Vol. 2"  (Criss Cross). Barnes but not McKenna is on "Philly Gumbo" (Criss Cross). Both albums are excellent.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Thanks to a Facebook post by @StereoJack, it looks like we now have a video of Tina Brooks playing with Ray Charles:

 

This is supposedly the whole concert:

 

[Dan Gould]

This isn't exactly new. Live in Brazil came out in 2004 and is super cheap for anyone who didn't buy it then:

 

https://www.discogs.com/master/875051-Ray-Charles-%C3%94-Genio-Live-In-Brazil-1963

 

[Rooster_Ties]

3 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

This isn't exactly new. Live in Brazil came out in 2004 and is super cheap for anyone who didn't buy it then:

https://www.discogs.com/master/875051-Ray-Charles-%C3%94-Genio-Live-In-Brazil-1963

Yup, I remember when this was first discovered around here back around 2004-2005, something like that.  Not pricey at all, either…

https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Charles-Genio-Live-Brazil/dp/B000641A7M

[JSngry]

I like the set with the giant sunglasses as backdrop. I wish I could find a pair that big for real life. People would ask me where you get that shit, and I would tell them that all it takes is a 3D printer, a Ray Charles movie, and a little skill that somebody else has.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

This isn't exactly new. Live in Brazil came out in 2004 and is super cheap for anyone who didn't buy it then:

 

https://www.discogs.com/master/875051-Ray-Charles-%C3%94-Genio-Live-In-Brazil-1963

 

But this is the first time I've seen it on YouTube. I don't generally buy every music DVD ever made.

[JSngry]

It's been on YouTube in the past. Maybe taken down at some point.

[Dan Gould]

38 minutes ago, bresna said:

But this is the first time I've seen it on YouTube. I don't generally buy every music DVD ever made.

Neither do I but in 2004 this was a chance to see Tina Brooks and youtube hadn't even launched yet.