Recorded for Berry Gordy's short-lived Workshop Jazz imprint, Roy Brooks' simply but authoritatively titled Beat fuses the intellectual rigors of the modern idiom with the physical prowess of soul-jazz to create a record of uncommon scope and reach. Working with Horace Silver Quintet colleagues Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, and Gene Taylor alongside Detroit contemporaries George Bohannon and Hugh Lawson, Brooks channels influences spanning the breadth of the Motor City scene, resulting in a clutch of challenging but engaging performances with the unmistakable patina of the embryonic Motown sound. While their technical proficiency is stunning, Brooks' rhythms never lose sight of the almighty groove, and for its hard bop stridency, the record has the proverbial good beat and you can dance to it.
-Jason Ankeny
"The album extends a variety of moods because Roy wished to showcase individual talents. We tried to pick a tune from the collection which was most outstanding. We had great difficulty, and finally gave up. They all were."
Susan Lynn Mathison (From the inside liner notes)
01. Homestretch (Henderson) 5:15
02. If you could see me now (Sicman) 4:46
03. Passin' the buck (Brooks) 4:34
04. Soulin' (Henderson) 4:29
05. Soulsphere (McCloud) 5:05
06. My secret passion (Pearson) 6:51
Press reviews
Roy Brooks is a flexible drummer able to play anything from bop to the avant-garde. He gained early experience gigging with Yusef Lateef and became known for his period with the Horace Silver Quintet (1959-1964). During the next few years, he played with a wide variety of top musicians including Pharoah Sanders, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Stitt, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Abdullah Ibrahim, Randy Weston, Charles Mingus, Milt Jackson, and Lateef. In 1970, he became a founding member of Max Roach's M'Boom, an all-percussion group that allowed him to play some musical saw. In 1976, Roy Brooks moved to Detroit where he became very involved in teaching jazz. He continued performing and recorded a set of stimulating duets on Enja.
Scott Yanow -All Music Guide
