Harvey Goldstein Brooks | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harvey Goldstein |
| Born | July 4, 1944 Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Genres | Blues rock, jazz fusion, R&B, psychedelic rock, folk rock, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, Guitar |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Labels | Elektra, Columbia, Vanguard, Verve, Just Sunshine, Elegant Geezer |
Harvey Brooks (born Harvey Goldstein; July 4, 1944) is an American bass guitarist. [1]
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).
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 Electric Flag based in Mill Valley, California. The Flag only lasted in its original line-up for about a year, and recorded three albums: a soundtrack for the film The Trip (1967), A Long Time Coming (1968) and The Electric Flag, An American Music Band (1968). After the Electric Flag disbanded, Brooks took up temporary residence at the Chateau Marmont hotel on Sunset Strip. From there he played on Cass Elliot's Dream a Little Dream (1968), and with Nick Gravenites and Pete Welding he produced Quicksilver Messenger Service (1968) for Capitol Records. Brooks also played on The Doors' The Soft Parade (1969) album on the songs "Touch Me", "Tell All the People" and "Wishful Sinful". [1] Producer Paul Rothchild wanted to give the Doors a fresh sound. He hired Brooks to play and help organize the rhythm tracks and Paul Harris to write some string and horn arrangements. Brooks also played live with the Doors at the Forum in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York and was on the Michael Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Stephen Stills Super Session (1968) release. [1] His song "Harvey's Tune" appeared on this album.
Brooks moved east to meet Crosby, Stills & Nash in Sag Harbor, New York. Musical and business disagreements caused Brooks and Paul Harris to leave the band and move over to John Sebastian's house to begin pre-production on John B. Sebastian (1970) album. The Manhattan sessions to finish the album were produced by Paul Rothchild and recorded at Jerry Ragovoy's Hit Factory.
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.
In 1970 Brooks returned to the studio with Dylan for the New Morning album playing on The Man In Me, If Not For You, and Day Of The Locusts, Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze and Down Home albums, and Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire. He also recorded with John Martyn, The Fabulous Rhinestones, Fontella Bass, John Sebastian, Loudon Wainwright III, John Cale, and Paul Burlison. [1] Later he toured with Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers in 1982 and Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the late 1980s.
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 In My Own Time by Karen Dalton, which was arranged and produced by Brooks. His last USA project was the 17th Street Band based in Tucson, Arizona. With his wife producer/author/multimedia artist and children's book author of Gramps Has A Ponytail, Bonnie Brooks and guitarist Tom Kusian he started 17th Street Records with two releases in November 2009 distributed by City Hall Records: Positively 17th Street by the 17th Street Band and El Regalo, the Gift by Francisco Gonzalez.
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]
Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural chaos of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray has argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.
Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer and bandleader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
Michael Bernard Bloomfield was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respected for his guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago's blues musicians before achieving his own fame and was instrumental in popularizing blues music in the mid-1960s. In 1965, he played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, including the single "Like a Rolling Stone", and performed with Dylan at that year's Newport Folk Festival.
Al Kooper is a retired American songwriter, record producer, and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, playing organ on the Bob Dylan song "Like a Rolling Stone", French horn and piano on the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and lead guitar on Rita Coolidge's "The Lady's Not for Sale", among many other appearances. Kooper also produced a number of one-off collaboration albums, such as the Super Session album that saw him work separately with guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. In the 1970s Kooper was a successful manager and producer, recording Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums. He has also had a successful solo career, writing music for film soundtracks, and has lectured in musical composition. Kooper was selected for induction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.
Paul Allen Rothchild was a prominent American record producer of the 1960s and 1970s, widely known for his historic work with the Doors, producing Janis Joplin's final album Pearl and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's first two albums.
The Electric Flag was an American soul rock band, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint with the Butterfield Blues Band. The band reached its peak with the 1968 release, A Long Time Comin', a fusion of rock, jazz, and R&B styles that charted well in the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Their initial recording was a soundtrack for The Trip, a movie about an LSD experience by Peter Fonda, written by Jack Nicholson and directed by Roger Corman.
Barry Joseph Goldberg is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is the self-titled debut album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, released in 1965 on Elektra Records. It peaked at number 123 on the Billboard albums chart. In 2012, the album was ranked number 453 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It is also ranked at number 11 on Down Beat magazine's list of the top 50 blues albums.
"From a Buick 6" is a song by Bob Dylan from his album Highway 61 Revisited, which was also released as a single on the B-side of "Positively 4th Street". It was recorded on July 30, 1965.
Super Session is an album by Al Kooper, with guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half. Released by Columbia Records in 1968, it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 during a 37-week chart stay and was certified gold by RIAA.
The Blues Project is a band from the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City that was formed in 1965 and originally split up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artful practitioners of pop music, influenced as it was by folk, blues, rhythm & blues, jazz and the pop music of the day.
Al's Big Deal – Unclaimed Freight is a compilation album by American musician Al Kooper. It was released as a double-LP in 1975.
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions is an album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf released in 1971 on Chess Records, and on Rolling Stones Records in Britain. It was one of the first super session blues albums, setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman. It peaked at #79 on the Billboard 200.
What's Shakin' is a compilation album released by Elektra Records in May 1966. It features the earliest studio recordings by the Lovin' Spoonful and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, as well as the only released recordings by the ad hoc studio group Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse, until they were reissued years later.
"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is a song written by Bob Dylan, that was originally released on his album Highway 61 Revisited. It was recorded on July 29, 1965. The song was also included on an early, European Dylan compilation album entitled Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2.
A Long Time Comin' is the first album by American rock band the Electric Flag, released in 1968. The album has a mix of musical styles, including soul along with blues and rock, with a horn section.
Edward Hoh was an American rock drummer who was active in the 1960s. Although primarily a studio session and touring drummer, Hoh exhibited a degree of originality and showmanship that set him apart and several of his contributions have been singled out for acknowledgment by music critics.
Herbie Rich was an American multi-instrumentalist from Omaha, Nebraska, who was a member of The New Breed, The Electric Flag, and the Buddy Miles Express. He also played with Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and others.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an American blues rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in the summer of 1963, the group originally featured eponymous vocalist and harmonicist Paul Butterfield, guitarist Elvin Bishop, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay.
"Obviously 5 Believers" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the last track of side three of his double album Blonde on Blonde (1966), and was the B-side to the single release of "Just Like a Woman" for releases in America and some other countries. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. It was recorded at Columbia Music Row Studios, in the early morning hours of a March 9–10, 1966 session. Four takes were recorded, although the first two were incomplete. It has been interpreted as a blues song about loneliness, with critics noting similarities in melody and structure to Memphis Minnie's "Chauffeur Blues". Dylan's vocals and the musicianship of the band on the track have both received critical acclaim, although the track has been regarded as insubstantial by some commentators.
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