True Blue

Enough has been said by jazz critics and other reviewers attesting to the quality of this music that I can't really add anything to the conversation. What I will comment on is the technical quality of this CD reissue. I have been pragmatically and opportunistically upgrading my Blue Note collection with remastered editions of my favorite albums (CD's). For the ten or so reissues I have picked up recently, all originally recorded between about 1957 and 1966, there is a wide range of variance in the sound improvement of the reissued disc versus the original CD release, ranging from, "this was barely worth the $8 I spent on it" to "wow, what an improvement". I'm happy to say that the reissued True Blue elicits the latter response and I was ecstatic to hear that. No more is Brooks' plaintive, yearning and robust tone constrained so unnaturally to a single speaker with no projection beyond the plane of the speaker. His solos now project and fill a much larger space between the left and right speakers and breathe with the saxophonist's statements. (I'm stopping short of saying that there's an actual sound stage such as is achievable with more modern recording technology). It's deserving treatment for a musician who puts so much into his solos. I wish I could say that all the Blue Note reissues I've bought were such slam, dunk improvements over the original releases but that's not the case. But thankfully, True Blue, always one of my favorite albums, is now twice as much fun to listen to as it was before.

As with a number of other immensely talented but unheralded unrecognized and jazz musicians, only one of the four albums led by Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks was released in his lifetime. Fortunately all four have been released on CD individually and as a boxed set. Brooks had a unique sound on the tenor that becomes instantly recognizable once you hear it. All the Tina Brooks albums should be in any serious jazz-lover's collection, and Brooks fans will be interested in acquiring the albums he recorded as a sideman with others, including Jackie McLean, Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell.

Tina Brooks was new to me until I heard him on our local public radio station.This album was definitely a positive surprise. Brooks offers a volume of hard bob from the productive early 1960s for Blue Note. Good compositions with a solid group of musicians, especially Freddie Hubbard. I have listened to it several times since I purchased it and plan to play it regularly. A fine recording.

The comments by Durmund Strang from years ago are spot on. This is a very fine sounding XRCD. It includes a booklet with Francis Wolff photos attached to the front cover. Joe Harley (the Tone Poet) and Michael Cuscuna were involved in the production of this version. The performances are stellar. Young Freddie Hubbard, Duke Jordan, Sam Jones and A.T. The apotheosis of Blue Note. I had purchased the two recent Tina Brooks reissues on vinyl and wanted this one to complete the set. I bought this after Amazon failed to obtain a Japanese pressing. I believe the last OG Blue Note vinyl that sold on Discogs set a record at over 3K, so I was not in the market for one of those. If you have a good DAC and don't have to have vinyl, you will not be disappointed. The price on these recently dropped, leading me to think we are at the end of the line. Get yours now, and if a Tone Poet comes out, get that too.

This Audio Wave CD's sound quality is unbelievable. I have True Blue on Japanese LP, the Mosaic LP set, the RVG CD -- this blows all contenders away. As a drummer whose has had much tympanic membrane beaten to death, I can only imagine what this would sound like to a set of healthy ears. Fantastic sound (for music which richly deserves the treatment and the extra expenditure). One quibble: the RVG CD has 2 bonus tracks which this does not include. So one really needs both CDs. For fellow Tina Brooks nuts, check out the Ray Charles DVD Live in Brazil, which features Tina in the band. He doesn't get much solo space, but does a couple choruses on one tune and does a tenor duel with Fathead on another tune. Those 2 pieces worth the price of the DVD. The extra vintage Ray Charles in his early prime is the icing. And also hunt down the "alternate" (not Blue Note) version of music from The Connection, under Howard McGhee's name, which also features some great Tina Brooks, one of his lesser known sessions.

If you haven't heard this combo you're missing a key piece of the 1950's/1960's jazz puzzle. Tina Brooks did not last long, but gained quite a folowing from his meager recorded output. Also recommended would be "Open Sesame" by Freddie Hubbard. Brooks was not as technically proficient as some sax men and certainly played some inappropriate notes, but he had a fine tone and sense of melody. His improvisations were influenced by his R&B background but were always interesting. Freddie Hubbard meanwhile was much better known and perhaps more musicaly "schooled". The two horns mixed well on these tunes with the unison phrases being very appealing. Duke Jordan's piano work was near perfect here and Sam Jones on bass and Art Taylor on drums provided solid rhythm support. These songs are all quite engaging. I think any bop or cool jazz fan will be happy if they include this in their collection.

Just when you thought you have found all of the really great blue note records, you come across a gem like this. Tina Brooks sounds incredible here, and Freddie Hubbard has another great session as second horn. It is hard to believe that Tina Brooks did not have a bigger career after listening to this. He sounds like one of the great tenors of his generation.

This album was described as being released in 2015 and turns out it was not and is a Scorpion version , which is pretty much the equivalent to a bootleg, I new it was too good to be true, kinda disappointed!