Harvey Brooks (bassist)
Harvey Goldstein Brooks | |
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Just Sunshine, Elegant Geezer |
Harvey Brooks (born Harvey Goldstein; July 4, 1944) is an American bass guitarist.[1]
Music career
Bob Dylan
Brooks came out of a New York music scene in the early 1960s. One of the younger players on his instrument, he was a contemporary of Felix Pappalardi and Andy Kulberg and other eclectic bass players in their late teens and early twenties, who saw a way to bridge the styles of folk, blues, rock, and jazz.
Brooks got his first boost to fame when he was asked to play as part of Bob Dylan's backing band on the sessions that yielded the album Highway 61 Revisited (1965)[1] — in contrast to the kind of folkie-electric sound generated by the band on his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home (1965). Producer Bob Johnston and Dylan were looking for a harder, in-your-face electric sound, and Brooks, along with guitarist Michael Bloomfield and organist Al Kooper, provided exactly what was needed. Brooks was also part of Dylan's early backing band which performed at Forest Hills, Queens and the Hollywood Bowl in 1965. This band also included Robbie Robertson (guitar) and Levon Helm (drums).
The Doors and The Electric Flag
From the Dylan single and album, Brooks branched out in a multitude of directions, as he went on to play on records by folk artists including Fred Neil, Eric Andersen at Vanguard Records, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul and Mary, Tom Rush and Jim & Jean at Verve Records,[1] transitional electric folk-rockers such as David Blue (whose producer was looking for a sound similar to that on Highway 61 Revisited), and various blues-rock fusion projects involving Bloomfield and Kooper.
Brooks met Michael Bloomfield at the Highway 61 Revisited sessions and was recruited to join Bloomfield's
Miles Davis
Brooks moved east to meet
After buying a loft in what was to become The Soho section of Greenwich Village Brooks got a call from Jack Gold, vice president of Columbia Records, offering him a job as staff producer. He connected with producer Teo Macero, who led him to Miles Davis. Brooks contributed to Bitches Brew (1970) and Big Fun (1974). On the sessions in August and November 1969, two bassists were used. Brooks played electric bass while Dave Holland simultaneously played acoustic bass.
1970s–present
In 1970 Brooks returned to the studio with Dylan for the
Brooks played with Donald Fagen's Rock and Soul Revue from 1991–1992. After a short stint with Danny Kortchmar's Slo Leak band in Westport CT, he relocated to Tucson Arizona in 1994 continuing to perform and record.
In 2006, Light in the Attic, a Seattle-based record label, reissued the 1971 album
Brooks and his wife Bonnie moved to Israel on August 4, 2009, living in Jerusalem writing his memoir "View From The Bottom" , and teaching, performing and recording in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.[2] He was featured in a cover story at Bass Musician magazine, March 2011.[3] Brooks finished his memoir in 2020 and six months later in 2021 released his first solo album of original vocal and instrumental music entitled, Harvey Brooks "Elegant Geezer,Jerusalem Sessions", featuring Oren Fried, Yehuda Ashash, Steve Peskoff, Ioram Linker, Jamie Saft, Daniel Naiman, Ehud Banai and Danny Sanderson.
He also played the Elegant Geezer Jerusalem Session record, produced by Matthew J. Adams.[4]
References
Notes
- ^ ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- ^ "Israel News | The Jerusalem post". Jpost.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
- ^ Suchow, Rick (March 1, 2011). "Bass Musician Magazine Featuring Harvey Brooks / March 2011 Issue". Bassmusicianmagazine.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
- ^ Harvey Brooks - Elegant Geezer, 2021-04-05, retrieved 2023-05-22
Bibliography
- Larkin, Colin (1995). The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music (2nd ed.). Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Pub. OCLC 32949294.
- Muirhead, Bert (1985). The Record Producers File. A directory of Rock Album Producers 1962-1984. Poole: Blandford Press.
- Brooks, Harvey (2020). View from the Bottom : 50 years of bass playing with bob dylan, the doors, miles davis and... everybody else. [S.l.]: Tangible Press. OCLC 1157760685.
- Liminos, Michael. "Q&A with the fabulous Harvey Brooks, one of the legendary bassists in Blues, Jazz, Folk and Rock history". Blues.Gr. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
- Harvey Brooks Biography 2020 View From The Bottom
- Harvey Brooks Children's book written by Bonnie Brooks 2020 Gramps Has A Ponytail
- Johnson, Kevin (18 April 2019). "Stories Behind the Songs: Harvey Brooks". No Treble. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
- Gross, David; Semioli, Tom. "Notes From An Artist, A Conversation With Harvey Brooks (Bob Dylan, Super Sessions, Miles Davis, Electric Flag, The Doors". buzzsprout.