Roy Brooks
Encyclopedia
Roy Brooks was an American hard bop
jazz drummer
.
player as a teenager and was offered a scholarship to the Detroit Institute of Technology
; he attended the school for three semesters and then dropped out
to tour with Yusef Lateef
. After time with Lateef and Barry Harris
, he played with Beans Bowles and with the Four Tops
in Las Vegas
. He played with Horace Silver
from 1959 to 1964, including on the album Song for My Father
; in 1963 he released his first album as a leader. Following this he freelanced in New York City
through the 1960s and early 1970s, playing with Lateef again (1967–70), Sonny Stitt
, Lee Morgan
, Dexter Gordon
, Chet Baker
, Junior Cook
, Blue Mitchell
, Charles McPherson, Pharaoh Sanders (1970), Wes Montgomery
, Dollar Brand, Jackie McLean
, James Moody
(1970–72), Charles Mingus
(1972–73), and Milt Jackson
. He married Hermine Brooks in 1967. His 1970 album The Free Slave featured Cecil McBee
and Woody Shaw
in early performances. Later in 1970 he joined Max Roach
's ensemble M'Boom
, and in 1972 put together the ensemble The Artistic Truth.
Brooks's performances often included unusual instruments such as the musical saw
and drums with vacuum tubes set up so as to regulate the pitch. He began to acquire a reputation for bizarre behavior on and off stage, and occasionally sought treatment for mental disorders. In 1975 he left New York and returned to Detroit, and began using lithium
to regulate his behavior. In the 1980s he returned to The Artistic Truth and gigged regularly in Detroit with Kenny Cox
, Harold McKinney, and Wendell Harrison
. With those three he co-founded M.U.S.I.C. (Musicians United to Save Indigenous Culture), and later also founded the Aboriginal Percussion Choir, an ensemble devoted to the use of non-Western percussion instruments. He used his basement as a practice and learning space, working with children as well as accomplished musicians.
In the 1990s Detroit's jazz scene waned, and Brooks ceased taking medication; he again began breaking down at gigs, and in 1994 was institutionalized for three weeks. In 1997, he threatened his neighbor with a shotgun
during a dispute over a lost set of house keys. He was charged with assault
but was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and was sentenced to mental treatment; however, he missed many of his appointments, and in 1999 he threatened another neighbor with a bullwhip
and a machete
over property rights to an adjacent vacant lot. Sentenced to further psychiatric treatment, he disappeared again, and when probation officers found him, he was imprisoned
late in 2000. He served time at Marquette Prison until 2004, when he was placed in a nursing home
. He died there late in 2005. Brooks is Survived by his wife Hermine and His Two sons Raheem Brooks and Richard Elliott Brooks-Pinkston.
Personnel: Roy Brooks: Drums, Marimba, Steel Drum, Keyboard; Amina Claudine Myers
: Hammond B-3 Organ and Vocals; Ray Mantilla
: Congas, Bells, Percussion; Jerry LeDuff: Tabla, Cuica, Shekere, Berimbau, Percussion; Rodney Rich: Guitar. This recording was released with thanks and the approval of Hermine Brooks and Raheem Brooks.
With Yusef Lateef
With M'Boom
With Blue Mitchell
With Horace Silver
With Sonny Stitt
With others
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
jazz drummer
Jazz drumming
Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion and 1980s-era latin jazz...
.
Biography
Brooks was born in Detroit and drummed since childhood. He was an outstanding varsity basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player as a teenager and was offered a scholarship to the Detroit Institute of Technology
Detroit Institute of Technology
The Detroit Institute of Technology was a fully accredited, four-year technical college in Detroit, Michigan that closed operations as a result of economic recession in 1982.First called the Association Institute...
; he attended the school for three semesters and then dropped out
Dropping out
Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves....
to tour with Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
. After time with Lateef and Barry Harris
Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator.-Biography:Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960...
, he played with Beans Bowles and with the Four Tops
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
. He played with Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
from 1959 to 1964, including on the album Song for My Father
Song for My Father
Song for My Father is a 1965 album by The Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated...
; in 1963 he released his first album as a leader. Following this he freelanced in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
through the 1960s and early 1970s, playing with Lateef again (1967–70), Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
, Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
, Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, Junior Cook
Junior Cook
Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...
, Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
, Charles McPherson, Pharaoh Sanders (1970), Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
, Dollar Brand, Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, James Moody
James Moody (saxophonist)
James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.-Biography:James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia...
(1970–72), Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
(1972–73), and Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
. He married Hermine Brooks in 1967. His 1970 album The Free Slave featured Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee is an American post bop jazz bassist, described by the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz as "a full-toned bassist who creates rich, singing phrases in a wide range of contemporary jazz contexts." Allmusic called him "One of post-bop's most advanced and versatile bassists".-Biography:McBee...
and Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
in early performances. Later in 1970 he joined Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
's ensemble M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
, and in 1972 put together the ensemble The Artistic Truth.
Brooks's performances often included unusual instruments such as the musical saw
Musical saw
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin...
and drums with vacuum tubes set up so as to regulate the pitch. He began to acquire a reputation for bizarre behavior on and off stage, and occasionally sought treatment for mental disorders. In 1975 he left New York and returned to Detroit, and began using lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
to regulate his behavior. In the 1980s he returned to The Artistic Truth and gigged regularly in Detroit with Kenny Cox
Kenny Cox
Kenny Cox was a jazz pianist performing in the post bop, hard bop and bebop mediums. Cox was pianist for singer Etta Jones during the 1960s and was also a member of a quintet led by trombonist George Bohannon...
, Harold McKinney, and Wendell Harrison
Wendell Harrison
Wendell Harrison is an American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist.- Career :Harrison began playing clarinet at age seven, and switched to tenor saxophone in high school. He studied under Barry Harris before moving to New York City in 1960...
. With those three he co-founded M.U.S.I.C. (Musicians United to Save Indigenous Culture), and later also founded the Aboriginal Percussion Choir, an ensemble devoted to the use of non-Western percussion instruments. He used his basement as a practice and learning space, working with children as well as accomplished musicians.
In the 1990s Detroit's jazz scene waned, and Brooks ceased taking medication; he again began breaking down at gigs, and in 1994 was institutionalized for three weeks. In 1997, he threatened his neighbor with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
during a dispute over a lost set of house keys. He was charged with assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
but was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and was sentenced to mental treatment; however, he missed many of his appointments, and in 1999 he threatened another neighbor with a bullwhip
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...
and a machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
over property rights to an adjacent vacant lot. Sentenced to further psychiatric treatment, he disappeared again, and when probation officers found him, he was imprisoned
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
late in 2000. He served time at Marquette Prison until 2004, when he was placed in a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
. He died there late in 2005. Brooks is Survived by his wife Hermine and His Two sons Raheem Brooks and Richard Elliott Brooks-Pinkston.
Posthumous Release of the Album Roy Brooks & the Improvisatinonal Sphere
In June 2011, Sagisttarius A-Star Records of Italy released a vinyl LP entitled Roy Brooks & the Improvisational Sphere, recorded by Charles Jazzrenegade Wood on September 3, 1999 Live at Lelli's, a well known Italian restaurant in Detroit. This is the sole available recording of this innovative select group assembled by Roy Brooks as the Improvisational Sphere for the three-day performance run at Lelli's.Personnel: Roy Brooks: Drums, Marimba, Steel Drum, Keyboard; Amina Claudine Myers
Amina Claudine Myers
Amina Claudine Myers in Blackwell, Arkansas; is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger.-Biography:...
: Hammond B-3 Organ and Vocals; Ray Mantilla
Ray Mantilla
Raymond Mantilla is an American jazz drummer. He has played as a session musician and toured with some of the most significant jazz musicians of his time...
: Congas, Bells, Percussion; Jerry LeDuff: Tabla, Cuica, Shekere, Berimbau, Percussion; Rodney Rich: Guitar. This recording was released with thanks and the approval of Hermine Brooks and Raheem Brooks.
As leader
- 1963: Beat
- 1970: The Free Slave (Muse RecordsMuse RecordsMuse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
) - 1974: Black Survival: The Sahel Concert at Town Hall
- 1979: The Smart Set
- 1983: Duet in Detroit (Enja RecordsEnja RecordsEnja Records is a German jazz record label based in Munich, Germany. It was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971....
) (with Woody ShawWoody ShawWoody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
, Geri AllenGeri AllenGeri Allen is an American composer/pianist educator jazz pianist, raised in Detroit, Michigan, and educated in the Detroit Public Schools. Allen has worked with many of the greats of modern music, including Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Tony Williams, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette,...
, Don PullenDon PullenDon Pullen was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed masterworks ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz...
, Randy WestonRandy WestonRandy Weston , is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.-Biography:Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians...
) (Cover design: Jerry LeDuff) - 2011: Roy Brooks & the Improvisational Sphere (Sagittarius A-Star Records, Italy) (with Amina Claudine MyersAmina Claudine MyersAmina Claudine Myers in Blackwell, Arkansas; is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger.-Biography:...
, Ray MantillaRay MantillaRaymond Mantilla is an American jazz drummer. He has played as a session musician and toured with some of the most significant jazz musicians of his time...
, Jerry LeDuff and Rodney Rich)
As sideman
With Abdullah IbrahimAbdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim , born Adolph Johannes Brand, 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, and formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer...
- Banyana - Children of AfricaBanyana - Children of Africa (Abdullah Ibrahim album)Banyana - Children Of Africa is a Jazz album by South African artist Abdullah Ibrahim.-Track listing:# "Banyana - Children Of Africa" - 2:00# "Asr" - 8:16# "Ishmael" - 15:02# "The Honey Bird" - 6:18# "The Dream" - 6:42# "Yukio Khalifa" - 10:23...
(1976) - The Children of Africa (Enja)
- Buddy Tate Meets Dollar Brand (Chiaroscuro RecordsChiaroscuro Records-Artists:*Nat Adderley*Howard Alden*George Barnes*Louie Bellson*Gene Bertoncini*Eubie Blake*Ruby Braff*John Bunch*Don Cherry*Buck Clayton*Eddie Condon*Johnny Costa*Kenny Davern*Wild Bill Davison*Lou Donaldson*Dorothy Donegan*John Eaton*Don Ewell...
, 1977)
With Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
- A Flat, G Flat and CA Flat, G Flat and CA Flat, G Flat and C is an album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating -Track listing:...
(1966, Impulse!) - The Golden FluteThe Golden FluteThe Golden Flute is an album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1966) - The Blue Yusef Lateef (AtlanticAtlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, 1968) - The Diverse Yusef LateefThe Diverse Yusef LateefThe Diverse Yusef Lateef is a jazz album by saxophonist Yusef Lateef released in 1970. In it are mixed influences from rhythm and blues and soul music and world music .-Track listing:...
(1970)
With M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
- Re: PercussionRe: PercussionRe: Percussion is the debut album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom recorded in 1973 for the Strata-East label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
(Strata-East, 1973) - M'BoomM'Boom (album)M'Boom is an album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom led by Max Roach recorded in 1979 for the Columbia label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This is a particularly colorful set that is easily recommended not only to jazz and percussion...
(Columbia, 1979) - CollageCollage (M'Boom album)Collage is an album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom led by Max Roach recorded in 1984 for the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(Soul Note, 1984)
With Blue Mitchell
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
- Blue's MoodsBlue's MoodsBlue's Moods is the third album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1960 and released on the Riverside label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and stated "the trumpeter is typically distinctive, swinging and inventive within the hard bop...
(Riverside, 1960) - The Cup BearersThe Cup BearersThe Cup Bearers is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1962 and released on the Riverside label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and stated "The music swings hard, mostly avoids sounding like a Horace Silver group, and has particularly...
(1962) - Step LightlyStep LightlyStep Lightly is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell featuring his first session recorded for the Blue Note label in 1964 but not released until 1980.-Reception:...
(1963)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Horace-ScopeHorace-ScopeHorace-Scope is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1960 featuring performances by Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, and Roy Brooks....
(1960) - Song for My FatherSong for My FatherSong for My Father is a 1965 album by The Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated...
(1963)
With Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
- Keeper of the Flame (Camden, 1971–73)
- The ChampThe Champ (Sonny Stitt album)-Side 1:# "The Champ" – 8:48# "Sweet and Lovely" – 7:11# "The Midgets" – 5:36-Side 2:# "The Eternal Triangle" – 5:21# "All the Things You Are" – 4:32# "Walkin'" – 9:43...
(1973)
With others
- Sonny RedSonny RedSonny Red was an American alto saxophonist associated with the hard bop idiom among other styles...
: Out of the BlueOut of the Blue (Sonny Red album)Out of the Blue is an album by American saxophonist Sonny Red recorded in late 1959 and early 1960 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1960) - Charles McPherson: McPherson's Mood (OJC, 1969)
- Max RoachMax RoachMaxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
: To The Max! (Enja) - Red RodneyRed RodneyRobert Roland Chudnick , who performed by the stage name Red Rodney, was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
: Bluebird (Camden, 1973–81)