Albums: Tina Brooks - The Waiting Game (2002)

Tina Brooks - The Waiting Game (2002)

Album review by Steve Huey ~allmusic
Like two of his other three albums, Tina Brooks' final session as a leader (in March 1961) was sequenced and prepared for release, but remained on the shelves until well after the tenor's tragically early death. That's why the title of The Waiting Game is not only apt, but sadly poignant. Despite Blue Note's reservations at the time, Brooks' output for the label was uniformly strong, demonstrating his skills as a smooth, graceful soloist and a composer of considerable dexterity within the hard bop idiom.

Swinging and bluesy, yet sophisticated and refined, The Waiting Game upholds the high standard Brooks set with his previous sessions. Brooks is especially fine on his minor-key compositions, such as "Talkin' About" and "Dhyana," which allow his streak of melancholy romanticism to emerge (as does the lone cover here, the Tony Bennett hit "Stranger in Paradise"). With its hints of Eastern modalities, "David the King" is perhaps the most challenging piece here; in fact, it had been attempted without success at the Back to the Tracks sessions.

Brooks sounds especially searching on the album-closing title cut, and pianist Kenny Drew and trumpeter Johnny Coles contribute some long, fluid lines of their own. Hard bop fans will find The Waiting Game just as necessary as Brooks' other albums. Not counting the out-of-print Mosaic box, The Waiting Game was first issued as its own entity in 1999 in Japan, and was finally released in the U.S. in October 2002.

Tracklist:
01. Talkin' About (7:41)
02. One for Myrtle (4:41)
03. Dhyana (6:55)
04. David the King (6:43)
05. Stranger in Paradise (7:32)
06. The Waiting Game (6:12)

Personnel:
Tina Brooks - tenor saxophone
Johnny Coles - trumpet
Kenny Drew - piano
Wilbur Ware - bass
Philly Joe Jones - drums

Additional Info:
Original sessions produced by Alfred Lion
Produced for release by Michael Cuscuna
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Recording Date: March 2, 1961
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Cover and liner photographs by Francis Wolff, Mosaic Images
Cover design by Kaoru Taku/Toshiba-EMI Ltd.
Mastered in 24-Bit by Ron McMaster
Liner notes by Michael Cuscuna

Genre: Hard-Bop
Label: Blue Note
Year: 2002

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