Harvey Brooks (composer)
Harvey Oliver Brooks was an American pianist and composer. He is the first black American to have written a complete score for a major motion picture: Mae West's film I'm No Angel.
Career
Brooks toured and recorded with Mamie Smith in the early-1920s, then settled in California. Beginning in 1923, he and Paul Howard co-led the Quality Four, a quartet with vocalist named after the Quality Cafe at 12th and Central in Los Angeles. Its members included Paul Howard on clarinet and tenor saxophone.Brooks recorded with the Quality Four and Howard's Quality Serenaders. He remained a member of both until 1930. Brooks was the music director for Les Hite’s orchestra from 1931 to 1935. In this role, he worked for Hollywood film studios, composing soundtrack music. Brooks later worked as a leader of his own band, played in Kid Ory’s band, and performed and recorded with Teddy Buckner and Joe Darensbourg. Beginning 1961, he became a member of the Young Men of New Orleans, which he led in the last year of his life.
In season three of the Netflix TV series Big Mouth, Brooks is shown mentoring a young Duke Ellington.
Selected discography
- Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders, recorded in Culver City, California April 29, 1929
- Joe Darensbourg and his Dixie Flyers, recorded live at The Lark, Los Angeles, October 1957
Filmography
- I'm No Angel I Found A New Way To Go To Town
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks
- : lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison
- :
- : sung by Mae WestI Want You, I Need You
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks
- : lyrics by Ben Ellison
- :
- : played on a piano and sung by Mae WestI'm No Angel
- : music by Harvey Brooks
- : lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison
- :
- : sung by Mae West at the end and during the closing credits That Dallas Man
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks
- : lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison
- :
- : played on a record on which Mae West singsThey Call Me Sister Honky Tonk
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks
- : lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison
- :
- : sung by Mae West
- Dark Manhattan, with Ben Ellison
Other selected compositions
Blow, Man, Blow!- : words & music by Harvey O. Brooks & Ellis Lawrence WalshFinger Wave
- : music by Harvey O. BrooksIt's A Mighty Pretty Night For Love
- : music by Harvey O. BrooksA Little Bird Told Me
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks
- : see Federal court case over "covering"Love In The First Degree
- : music by Harvey O. BrooksShack In The Back
- : music by Harvey O. BrooksThat's The One For Me
- : music by Harvey O. Brooks & Ellis Lawrence Walsh