Tina Brooks – The Waiting Game (Blue Note, Tone Poet)

The Waiting Game by Tina Brooks is a lost masterpiece of the Blue Note era—an album recorded in 1961 but not released until decades later. With Brooks’s soulful tenor saxophone at the helm, the session brings together a dream lineup: Johnny Coles on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The compositions blend hard bop fire with lyrical introspection, from the simmering groove of “Talkin’ About” to the contemplative beauty of “Dhyana.” Each track is a showcase for Brooks’s melodic gifts and emotional depth, revealing a player whose brilliance deserved far more recognition in his lifetime.

Thanks to its release as part of the Blue Note Tone Poet series, The Waiting Game has finally found its rightful place in the jazz canon. The production quality is impeccable, doing justice to the clarity and warmth of the original session. Brooks’s solos are fluid and searching, and the band responds with deep synergy and swing. This is not just a historical curiosity—it’s a vital, living document of an artist who had something profound to say, and now, at last, people are listening.