How about black slate tile. Will also hold / reflect the heat.

What about a subway tile?

I kind of like the brick ... what is in the rest of the room?

You could whitewash it:

I think the brick is okay, but not diggin' the floor pattern with it. How about replacing the floor to black slate?

I agree, the brick is not that bad. What the rest of the room looks like might help. The floor appears to be a light wood. Depending on the rest of the items in the room, you could go with a bile to match the dark brown or black (?) tile in the floor area of the corner, or re-do the whole thing in a lighter color tile.

I agree with @indianpatti. I like the look of the brick. Does it go with the rest of the room?

@ThisSoldHouse has a great guide to help with whitewashing brick, if you do decide to keep the brick! http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,227870,00.html

Another option could be to have the brick cleaned to help enhance the brick like the attached pic? Here are a few more before and after pics of brick: http://www.deserttileandgrout.com/brick.asp

Good luck!

How do you plan on furnishing...rustic to modern?

I like the idea of whitewash too, first thing that came to mind... I would even go lighter than the above picture.
If you want to remove the tile all together than I would re-clad with a large format tile in a stone finish... stone finish would be determined by the kind of look you want to achieve. If you want something "polished" than I would go with a light stone like a Carrera gold marble. But if you are going for something more casual and rustic than I would do a textured stone feature wall.