Minor Move

Tina Brooks is among the most neglected voices of the hard-bop movement, a significant tenor saxophonist who traveled in the Blue Note orbit from 1958 to 1962. He appeared as a sideman on some of the label's best-known sessions--Jimmy Smith's The Sermon and Kenny Burrell's Blue Lights--but recordings under his leadership often had to wait decades to be released. Minor Move, from 1958, was the first session under his own name, first appearing in Japan in 1980. Brooks possessed significant musical virtues, including a big, warm sound (a balance of Sonny Rollins's gravity and John Coltrane's metallic shimmer) and original ways of phrasing and negotiating changes that are filled with subtle rhythmic and harmonic turns. Brooks is in the company of equals here, including the celebrated Lee Morgan and Art Blakey and the almost comparably neglected pianist Sonny Clark. The result is superb hard bop, from the blowing tunes to Brooks's rugged handling of standards. --Stuart Broomer