Randy Brooks "Tenderly" 1946

Another trumpet great who is largely forgotten.
Through no fault of his own, Randy Brooks ultimately had a tragic life after a brief period of fame. An excellent swing-based trumpeter who started playing when he was six, Brooks picked up very early experience performing with Rudy Vallee, touring with the singer for two years, starting when he was 11! He also worked with Claude Thornhill, Bob Allen, Art Jarrett's Orchestra (which was organized after the death of Hal Kemp) and, most importantly, in 1944 with Les Brown's Big Band. Brooks (who was influenced by Harry James) started his own orchestra in late-1944, just when the swing era was ending. He had some success during 1945-47 despite the odds being against him. John Benson Brooks contributed some of the arrangements and, although the sidemen are little-known today, the young Stan Getz was in the band for a short period in 1946. Brooks' Orchestra recorded for Decca and had hits in "Tenderly," "Harlem Nocturne" and "The Man With The Horn." However the band eventually failed as did most jazz orchestras during the period. Brooks married fellow bandleader Ina Ray Hutton and moved to Los Angeles where tragedy struck. A major stroke in the late '40s ended his career and in 1967 Brooks was burned to death in a fire. Today he is largely forgotten and unfortunately his generally rewarding recordings are mostly out of-print. Randy Brooks deserved much better.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Randy Brooks
• Chuck Par-Due

[olbrneyes]

As great as Randy Brooks was, he was NOT Harry James' equal. Randy didn't have an identifiable sound. You recognized Harry after two notes!

[olbrneyes]

So true!!

[rsalvucc]

Shorty Sherock did the solo for Glen Gray

[TrompetteSpielen]

A great recording of this tune.  Thank you for posting.

[frankenzie]

great to hear this finally, I only ever heard the Glen Gray recreation on the album Sounds of the Great Bands in Hi Fi.

[JesusDaughter52496]

i love the record style with the crackle in the background gives this song much more character! :)

[rfvee]

He had superb tone, that much is true. Phrasing was very James-like, not a criticism, as the same could be said of Ray Anthony. Lovely upper range, and I can see the comparison to Maynard. I haven't heard this in years. By the way, Bobby Hackett did a credible job re-creating this solo for Glen Gray when they did the Swing Era re-recordings.

[theaed02]

GREAT SOUND AND ABILITY. RIVALED HARRY JAMES... AS GOOD AS RANDY IS I DONT THINK SO. I KNOW I WILL BE LOOKING FOR MORE RANDY BROOKS.

[ken40able]

And played that way! I was just recently turned on to him by a fellow trumpet player, Bill Barnes. He gave the book "A Door Will Open" by Helen Pajama, a life-long fan and devotee who was his care-giver in later life and who was instrumental in getting his life's story in print. I'm a saxer, but after hearing this recording, I think Randy rivaled Harry James in his delivery!

[javiercito411]

This without a doubt needs to be heard by far more than 26 Youtubers.