Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks occupies a place in Jazz History as being a great and distinctive voice of the tenor saxophone who had a lot of bad luck, no real fame and an early death. One very sad lifetime but now that he is long gone, his artistry is acknowledged by all. Of his 4 Blue Note dates under his own name only one was issued. Now everything he recorded as a leader and sideman is now out and available. He died in 1974 at age 42 but his reputation was revitalized when all of his albums were unearthed and released in the early 1980s on LP and CD and in box sets. This is one of his "unreleased" albums. His third for Blue Note and it's a great one. It features Tina (pronounced "Ty-na") on tenor saxophone leading trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Arthur Taylor plus on one tune a cameo appearance by alto saxophone master Jackie McLean. Brooks contributes three tunes and two more obscure standards complete the date. The standard tunes are "For Heavens Sake" and "The Ruby and The Pearl". The album is called "Back To The Tracks" and it was given a matrix number and advertised in Jazz publications but never issued. The story of brooks' life. Check it out tonight.

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