We Live In Brooklyn Baby: The Story Behind The Unreleased Harry Whitaker Version

Cosmo

So yeah, I was sitting on this for a while...

And today as I looked out of my window at Brooklyn, a place I love more than I can put to words, as I pulled up the Roy Ayers version, I sat here facing this OTHER version. A version I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about.

Brooklyn, New York. The County Of Kings. I could list the the reasons why living here is the best but that list would always be incomplete, as I learn something about my home every day that I walk these streets (and I do a LOT of walking, mind you.) But ultimately Brooklyn is a place that is made out of the fabric of my dreams. Since I first started visiting here in the very early 90s to when I first moved here in 1994 (to Williamsburg before it was ???Williamsburg??? ??? I guess making me an original hipster) to when I finally came up for good in the early 21st Century, I have fallen in love with this place over and over again...



We Live In Brooklyn Baby...

Rockadelic

I feel you on this....the time I spent in Brooklyn plays like a Scorcese movie in my mind. Summer days that started with a game of stoopball before our daily noon game of stick-ball against two of the young Garbagemen on their lunch break...... Italian ices in those little white paper cups....sitting on the stoop in the evening while a guy down the street blasts a Young Rascals tune on his radio......card tables with marathon Mah-Jong games on the sidewalk....... Arguments about the Beatles vs. the Four Seasons with Frankie Valli wannabes still on a Doo-Wop jag......great place.....great memories...nice track.....Hi K!

Snapping

Thanks so much for sharing this. I have known and loved the Roy Ayers version of this song for so long - first as a sample source but mostly just for "the vibe." Hearing this version reminds of how it musically fits into the legacy of modal jazz.... timeless

tokyobeats

DOPE version!!

thanks MUCHLY for the sneak peek.........pays great respect to the original!!! Can indeed see why it would have put a smile to your face

Would love to buy this if you could ever get the green light....good luck with that ;)

Beatnicholas

fuck man thats pretty sick.. big up yourself and mr mason.

Junior

I can't lie, I read the great lead up and where it was coming from and kind of suspected that the track would be acceptable but pretty routine with added weight from the back story. The fact that it's actually a great take on a true classic (love the live feel and the way the bass gains extra oomph in the last minute with the tablas floating about in the mix) is just a lovely way to finish a heartfelt piece.

gaz

On my first trip to New York, a city I've always been in awe of (I'm from the UK) I made sure I had Roy Ayers We Live In Brooklyn on my walkman
Playing that while walking across Brooklyn Bridge was one of the musical moments of my life , never to be forgotten

Thanks so much for Harry Whitaker's take on it , great

Duderonomy

Any chance of re-upping the link?

Pressed on plastic would be even better. Great write-up.

gaz

Duderonomy said:

Any chance of re-upping the link?

Pressed on plastic would be even better. Great write-up.

link works fine

Duderonomy

Yeah, I think divshare must've been playing up as another poast had a 'faulty' divshare link too.

Many thanks for sharing Cosmo!

Ham

wow, great story and great version of the classic, thanks so much for this!!

MR_ZIMMS

Sounds like a newly recorded version of the track...
But you state 2009 right?

Dante

Great writing, man. Really, really good.

tripledouble

cos...your blog is always superior top shelf heartfelt material. cant even speak enough on how well written and personal it is. and the harry whitaker version is stellar

sakedelic

Nice version, nice story. Thanks! Goes great with these Summer of 1974 photos of Brooklyn too:
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-brooklyn-19070s-2011-6?op=1