The First Mix: New York Groove…

In the tradition established by KB, EJ, GrantLove, Funky16Corners, The StepFather of Soul and many other “SoulSites” on the ‘Net, I am very happy to post the very first mix here at Rhythms In Black Satin: “New York Groove”.

Right-click here for RIBS-NewYorkGroove.mp3 file (75MB)

Tracks:
01 Harlem River Drive - Bobbi Humphrey
02 Nights In Harlem - Luther Vandross
03 Funkin’ For Jamaica (N.Y.) - Tom Browne
04 Down and Out In New York City - James Brown
05 Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack
06 New York, New York - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
07 Living For The City - Stevie Wonder
08 Harlem - Bill Withers
09 On Broadway - George Benson
10 Native New Yorker - Odyssey
11 You Belong To The City - Glenn Frey
12 Summer In The City - Quincy Jones
13 New York Times - Bobbi Humphrey
14 Harlem Nocturne - Michael Lington
15 Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) - Christopher Cross
16 New York State Of Mind - Oleta Adams

I have been thinking about putting together a mix of music that captures the flavor of New York for some time now, but wanted something other than the “traditional” songs that one might normally think of right off the bat. Therefore, I purposely stayed away from songs like Theme From New York, New York (Frank Sinatra), Take the ‘A’ Train (Duke Ellington) and Drop Me Off In Harlem (Ella Fitzgerald; hmmm… maybe those might make for an interesting “New York Grooves 2″ mix? But I digress…). What I finally came up with is a collection of songs that, musically and lyrically, are as diverse as the city itself. However, I believe I have managed to weave them together into a cohesive whole that will be pleasing to the ear as well as invoke images and/or memories of “the city that never sleeps”.

We start the ride off with a trip down Harlem River Drive courtesy of Bobbi Humphrey, probably one of her most famous and recognizable tunes. I can’t listen to anything by Bobbi without including this in the set. Fresh off the drive we pick up the pace with Luther’s Nights In Harlem and go Funkin’ For Jamaica, NY with Tom Browne. But, as we all know, the city is not all party time, bright lights and glamour as the next five songs remind us. James Brown laments about being Down And Out In New York City, while Bobby Womack preaches a sermon about the struggle to get Across 110th Street. In New York, New York Grandmaster Flash breaks it down in no uncertain terms:

“New York, New York big city of dreams,
but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.
You might get fooled if you come from out of town,
but I’m down by law and I know my way around.”

Stevie Wonder’s Living For The City and Bill Withers’ Harlem round out the set of “the gritty side” of the city songs.

George Benson’s On Broadway (my favorite version of this song) takes us back downtown, and Odyssey takes us all over the city with a favorite of NYCers everywhere, Native New Yorker.

Even though it was a show based in Maimi, FL, Miami Vice (and Glen Frey) gave us a quintessential New York song in the opening episode (Prodigal Son) of the second season with, You Belong To The City. Quincy Jones’ jazzy and melodic version of Summer In The City follows, perfectly capturing the sultry, seductive heat of a summer’s eve in the big city.

The last set of the mix brings us back to Bobbi Humphrey who takes us on a jazzy trip through town with New York Times, and leads us into a hauntingly beautiful version of Harlem Nocturne by Michael Lington. If this tune sounds familier that’s because it was used as the theme song for the the Mike Hammer TV series (not this version though, the TV version was performed by Earle Hagen). Rounding out the mix we have Arthur’s Theme by Christopher Cross (“We can get lost between the moon and New York City…”), a mostly overlooked, yet oh so appropriate New York song, and New York State Of Mind this time by Oleta Adams, not Billy Joel. I had a hard time choosing between Oleta’s version and Billy’s version of this tune, both are equally good. In the end I went with Oleta’s because it is a lesser known version of the song (I always like versions of familier songs that people may not have heard before) and she has a beautiful refrain near the end:

“I’m in a new, I’m in a new, New York,
I’m in a new, I’m in a new, New York,
I’m in a new, I’m in a new, New York,
I’m in a new, I’m in a new, New York”

that just perfectly captures the feeling of the mix. Enjoy.

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