Harry Brooks (composer)

Harry Brooks was an American writer of popular songs

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, jazz pianist and composer in the 1920s through the early 1950s.

After graduating from his hometown high school (1914), Brooks worked as a pianist with Pittsburgh bands (dance orchestras), and then as a staff composer for a publishing company. He is recalled mostly in the 21st century for his work with his friends Thomas "Fats" Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 and lyricist, Andy Razaf. Brooks was the composer of several hit songs including his composition "Ain't Misbehavin'

Ain't Misbehavin' (song)

"Ain't Misbehavin" is a 1929 song written by Thomas "Fats" Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf . Waller recorded the original version that year for Victor Records and also later performed the song in the 1943 film Stormy Weather. It was used in the off-broadway musical Connie's Hot Chocolates...

," done with Waller and Razaf.

Also with Razaf and Waller, Brooks scored the Broadway shows

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 "Snapshots of 1921" and "Connie's Hot Chocolates".

Published songs and music

all co-composed with Razaf and Waller unless otherwise marked

• "Ain't Misbehavin'
  Ain't Misbehavin' (song)
  "Ain't Misbehavin" is a 1929 song written by Thomas "Fats" Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf . Waller recorded the original version that year for Victor Records and also later performed the song in the 1943 film Stormy Weather. It was used in the off-broadway musical Connie's Hot Chocolates...
  
  "
• "Black and Blue
  Black and Blue (Fats Waller song)
  " Black and Blue" is a 1929 jazz standard composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf. It was introduced in the Broadway musical Hot Chocolates by Edith Wilson. The show also included Waller's hit compositions "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose".Louis Armstrong later...
  
  "
• "Can t We Get Together"
• "Garden Of God" -sole composer
• "In the Meantime"
• "Jungle Jamboree"
• "Low Tide Down In My Heart" with Andy Razaf
• "My Man Is Good For Nothin' But Love"
• "On the Loose" -sole composer
• "Rockin' In a Rockin' Chair"
• "Saturday"
• "Southern Sunset" (aka "When the Sun Sets Down South") with Sidney Joseph Bechet
  Sidney Bechet
  Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
  
   and Noble Sissle
  Noble Sissle
  Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...
  
  
• "Strictly From Dixie"
• "Sweet Savannah Sue"
• "Swing, Mr. Charlie" with Irving Taylor
  Irving Taylor (songwriter)
  Irving Taylor , was a Jewish-American composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He enlisted in the US Navy the day after Pearl Harbor...
  
   and J. Russell Robinson
  J. Russell Robinson
  Joseph Russel Robinson was a United States ragtime and dixieland jazz pianist and a composer of jazz, blues, and popular tunes....
  
  
• "That Rhythm Man"

Further reading

• Singer, Barry (1992) Black And Blue: The Life And Lyrics Of Andy Razaf Schirmer Books, New York, ISBN 0-02-872395-3