Tina Brooks + Kenny Burrell: Early Jazz Sessions Posted by independent j

Birk's Works - Kenny Burrell from the album On View At The Five Spot on Blue Note (1959). Scotch Blues - Kenny Burrell from the double album Blue Lights Volumes 1 & 2 on Blue Note (1958). My obsession with all thing Tina Brooks continues. I got into Brooks's backstory in my post on his albums as a leader, but today let's start to look at his career as a sideman. Burrell's first recorded sessions as a jazz artist were both on Blue Note dates lead by guitarist Kenny Burrell. Prior to this, Brooks had worked extensively with a few different R&B bands, but I'll stick with his jazz work for now. As I've stated before, I think Brooks's greatest strength is his composition, but unfortunately, no Brooks original material appear on these dates. "Birk's Works" is from the August 1959 live date at the Five Spot featuring Art Blakey on drums for the whole set and Brooks on tenor for half of the tracks. I've never really been much of one of jazz guitar (and Burrell in particular), but KB really gets loose on this Gillespie composition with beautiful mimicry of Charlie Parker's note bending style. Brooks counters with an ultra smooth solo that owes far more to Lester Young's influence than The Bird. And throughout the rock-solid backing of Blakey and Bobby Timmons (piano) make for a stellar be-bop track even if our hero Tina isn't lighting the roof on fire. (additional note: Timmons's bookending solos are not to be ignored.) "Scotch Blues" is from an earlier session (May 1958) and is Brooks's first jazz recording. It is again a Burrell lead session with Blakey providing the backbeat and is one of those studio dates that is essentially a live recording with no audience. Throughout the day of recording the band shifted between a quartet and a septet and everything in between, but for this extremely playful tune we have a quintet with Brooks playing his tenor against the trumpet of Louis Smith. Again, my fascination with Brooks began with the fact that such a talent could have his albums shelved for an extensive period of time, but it has grown largely because of his composing and ability to play and interplay with other horns so well. I think Brooks has some of his best solos on the Blue Lights albums. Still more I want to say about Tina Brooks...his ability to play well with others is best highlighted in his albums with Freddie Redd and Jackie McLean and we'll be getting to those soon.

In Memorium :: Max Roach (Jan 10, 1924 - Aug 16, 2007) :: Genius Drummer Posted by independent j

Mildama - Clifford Brown & Max Roach from the album Brown and Roach, Inc. on EmArcy Records (1954). Drum Conversation - Max Roach w/ The Bud Powell Trio from the album Jazz at Massey Hall, Vol. 2 on Debut Records (1953). Fleurette Africaine - Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach from the album Money Jungle on United Artists (1962). This is a little, but today let's honor the passing of the jazz titan Max Roach on August 16th. It is difficult to encapsulated with any kind of brevity the magnificent breadth and depth of Roach's life and career, so I will not be attempting in this short space to do that. Instead I'll direct you to this excellent obituary in the New York Times. Instead, I'd like to treat you to some tracks of Roach's from my favorite period of his long and always interesting career, namely when he was helping define the hard bop sound of the early 1950s. "Mildama" is a Roach contribution from the quintet he lead with trumpeter Clifford Brown. Essentially a drum solo with slight flourishes from the band, Roach displays his bombastic fills simultaneously with his ability to consistently keep the rhythm in the pocket. Just listen to how metronome regular the high-hat is through the rolling ebb or flow of the middle half of this traffic...Roach was a technical genius. "Drum Conversation" is a full on live drum solo from the recording session at Massey Hall that produced the famous Quintet concert. The opening press roll sadly gets a little lost in the recording fidelity, but again Roach opens up and really tears throw some exciting moments. Extended drum solos can often descend into wankery, but I always stay engaged wondering what Max might try next. And finally, to contrast the pile driver ferocity of these tracks, I've selected the brilliant "Fleurette Africaine" off my favorite jazz album of all time Money Jungle. Here Roach's texturing and brush work is the epitome of restraint and gentle shading. Roach melds perfectly with Mingus's bass and Ellington's spare piano. While the tracks here give a tiny taste of Roach's extreme skill as a drummer, they only hint at his efforts as a composer, activist (Freedome Now Suite!), industry pioneer (started Debut Records one of the first artist owned labels), educator (long time professor at UMass), and general all around stud (truly deserving of the unofficial title bestowed by his receipt of a MacArthur "genius" grant). For further reading and some excellent videos check out this page from Drummer World.