Harvey Brooks (composer)

Harvey Oliver Brooks (17 February 1899, in Philadelphia – 17 June 1968, in Los Angeles) 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 (1933).

Brooks toured and recorded with Mamie Smith in the early 1920s, then settled in California. Beginning 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. It members were

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 (from 1952), and performed and recorded with Teddy Buckner (1955–1956) and Joe Darensbourg (1957–1960). Beginning 1961, he became a member of the Young Men of New Orleans (dixieland jazz group), which he led in the last year of his life.

From the 1933 film, I'm No Angel

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