Roy Brooks Understanding

Explosive Quintet Set Recorded at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom Features Woody Shaw, Carlos Garnett, Harold Mabern, and Cecil McBee in Their Prime Three-LP and Two-CD Packages Include Comprehensive Liner Notes by Jazz Authority Mark Stryker, a New Interview with McBee, and Recollections by Brooks’ School Classmates Charles McPherson, Herb Boyd and Drummer Louis Hayes.

All Proceeds from the Release Benefit the Non-Profit Detroit Sound Conservancy Understanding, a blazing 1970 concert recording featuring the Detroit born master percussionist Roy Brooks leading a gifted quintet through its spirited paces at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom, will be released by Reel to Real Recordings in July. Comprising more than two hours of expansive performances averaging 20 minutes in length, the potent date was recorded by Left Bank Jazz Society and stars trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett, pianist Harold Mabern, and bassist Cecil McBee. It will initially be issued on June 12 as a three-LP set mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram platters at Standard Vinyl in Toronto. The set will be released as a two-CD set and digitally on June 18. All proceeds from the release – produced with the cooperation of McBee and Garnett and the estates of Brooks, Mabern, and Shaw – will go directly to the Detroit Sound Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2012 and devoted to the preservation, education, conservation, and placekeeping of the Motor City’s musical heritage.

This is a first ever collection of Rare Soul that assembles the rarest Soul 45s. Highly collectible, and highly prized by those who love the genre. Virtually all of these songs have never been on CD before, and making their digital debut here in this deluxe collection. With encyclopedic liner notes by Bill Dahl, this book and CD release certainly raises the bar for this genre.