Harvey Brooks (bassist)

Harvey Brooks (born Harvey Goldstein; July 4, 1944) is an American bass guitarist who built a career as a session musician, playing on key recordings by Bob Dylan, The Doors, Miles Davis, and many others.

Brooks emerged from the early-1960s New York music scene as one of the younger players on his instrument, alongside contemporaries like Felix Pappalardi and Andy Kulberg. These musicians, still in their late teens and early twenties, looked for ways to blend folk, blues, rock, and jazz.

His first major break came when he joined Bob Dylan’s backing band for the sessions that produced *Highway 61 Revisited* (1965). Dylan and producer Bob Johnston wanted a harder, more aggressive electric sound than the folk-rock of *Bringing It All Back Home*, and Brooks—along with guitarist Michael Bloomfield and organist Al Kooper—delivered it. On that album, he is credited as Harvey Goldstein; he changed his name after its release. However, Brooks did not play on the final released tracks of the album, as the bass parts were performed by Russ Savakus and others. Brooks also did not perform with Dylan at Forest Hills, Queens, or the Hollywood Bowl in 1965; Dylan’s live band at those shows included Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, but Brooks was not part of that touring band.

From there, Brooks worked across a wide range of styles. He played on records by folk artists like Fred Neil, Eric Andersen, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul and Mary, Tom Rush, and Jim & Jean, as well as electric folk-rockers such as David Blue. He joined Bloomfield’s Electric Flag in Mill Valley, California, which lasted about a year in its original lineup and released three albums: a soundtrack for *The Trip* (1967), *A Long Time Coming* (1968), and *The Electric Flag, An American Music Band* (1968). After the band broke up, Brooks stayed at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, playing on Cass Elliot’s *Dream a Little Dream* (1968). He did not produce Quicksilver Messenger Service’s 1968 album; that album was produced by Nick Gravenites and Pete Welding. He played on three tracks from The Doors’ *The Soft Parade* (1969)—“Touch Me,” “Tell All the People,” and “Wishful Sinful”—at producer Paul Rothchild’s request to freshen the band’s sound. Brooks also performed live with the Doors at the Forum in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden, and appeared on the 1968 *Super Session* album with Bloomfield, Kooper