Tina Brooks – True Blue – 180 Gram Vinyl Record

Description

Tina Brooks – True Blue – 180 Gram Vinyl Record

True Blue is the only Tina Brooks album issued during the tenor saxophonist’s lifetime, and it stands as the clearest full-length statement of his writing and playing. Recorded in June 1960, the quintet features Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Brooks’s tone is lean and slightly plaintive, with a measured phrasing that contrasts beautifully with Hubbard’s brighter, more forceful attack.

“Good Old Soul” opens with a blues-based theme whose warmth reflects Brooks’s melodic instincts. “Up Tight’s Creek” increases the pressure through a more compact line and energetic solo exchanges. “Theme for Doris,” written for Brooks’s niece, brings out the tenderness in his sound. Duke Jordan’s precise, understated accompaniment gives the horns room while keeping each performance harmonically clear.

The title composition begins the second side with a memorable minor-key theme and some of the album’s strongest front-line interplay. Brooks does not crowd his solos; he lets phrases settle before answering them, giving the music an unusually vocal quality. “Miss Hazel” carries a soulful rhythmic lift, and the standard “Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You” closes the record with an intimate ballad reading.

Freddie Hubbard was still near the beginning of his Blue Note career, but his confidence is already evident. The contrast with Brooks never becomes a contest. Hubbard’s projection sharpens the ensemble passages, while Brooks supplies emotional depth and compositional identity. Jones and Taylor form a rhythm section that can swing hard without disturbing the music’s poise.

This 180-gram Blue Note vinyl edition presents the original six-track stereo album, excluding alternate takes added to later compact discs. UPC 602455242556 identifies this pressing. The original sequence and classic cover remain intact, giving True Blue the focused presentation intended for Brooks’s 1960 leader date.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Record Details

Artist: Tina Brooks
Title: True Blue
Format: 180 Gram Vinyl Record
Label: Blue Note Records
Release year: 1960
UPC: 602455242556

Track Listing

A1. Good Old Soul
A2. Up Tight’s Creek
A3. Theme for Doris
B1. True Blue
B2. Miss Hazel
B3. Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You