Wax Poetics: Do you consider yourself primarily a DJ? Where do you think you’ve made your mark in music?
and had invited me to come down to the Polydor building and get some records. I took my time getting up there, and when I finally did—by that time, Polydor didn’t really have any good artists; James Brown was about it. So this guy used to have the whole floor as his office, and James Brown had a little office in the back, but by the time I got up there, they basically had reversed it. He had to give up the whole floor to James Brown for his productions and just take this little office for himself. He was a little embarrassed, like, “If you had just come up here a few months ago, this all was mine... But let me show you around what used to be my office; maybe we’ll see James Brown.” Now understand, I was a fanatic at the time. Finally, he says, “Ah, there’s James!” We walk over, and he introduces me as a DJ who loved his stuff. James says, “A DJ? You gotta give him my new jam!” And he hands me Get On the Good Foot and a Lyn Collins promo that didn’t come out till months later [the Think LP]. I’m looking at this record, just awed. Then, after a moment, I realize he’s wearing the same suit that’s in the picture right there before my eyes! That image stuck with me. The big thing about that experience was that I had been a fan. I had all his records on King. After that, I was getting these red-label Polydors with his face on it, so I was used to all that. Now, I got this white label that I’d never seen before, and it hit me that, “I’m a DJ; this is a promotional copy.” It really made me feel like I’d crossed a line, that I was in the business. Before, it was like I had this great hobby, but now I was in the business. Eddie Kendricks “Girl You Need a Change of Mind” from People…Hold On (Tamla) 1972 Krivit: This record was one of the first records that made me think this is a club mix or extended mix, a “big room” sounding record as opposed to a funky/“get down” kind of record. This was probably my second real promo. Tamla was another label I was used to seeing in color, so the black-and-white promo label really struck me. This was a theme song for me over the years. It never really went away. This was a very key song at the Paradise Garage. It was used to test the sound system, to make sure records didn’t feed back, to see how the highs were, or if an album cut could still pump. Larry [Levan] would make this cut sound good; then he knew the system was really pumping, and anything else he played would sound good too. I saw Eddie Kendricks perform this live at Madison Square Garden. He was second billing to Sly and the Family Stone. It was Sly’s wedding onstage. Eddie Kendricks was just the opening act, but I really just came there for him.
Danny Krivit: I wouldn’t say I’m just a DJ, but I’ve been DJing for thirty-two years. Right up next to that is editor. I consider myself an accomplished editor; that’s what I’ve made a reputation behind. There’s plenty of editors, but there are very few who’ve made a name as an editor. Most of them are way in the past, they had their moment, and most of them aren’t still doing it. Also their styles are different, more representative of just that period that they were active in. People like the Latin Rascals, Omar Santana, Chep Nunez, Gail “Sky” King. Then you have the people at the very beginning, really just DJs doing edits for themselves. Lesser known but certainly at the head of them is Walter Gibbons. François [Kevorkian], Frankie Knuckles, Keith Dumpson. Most of the DJs from that period had a reel-to-reel that they used [to play special homemade edits]. My editing is subtle, and has to do with arrangement. I consider this separate from a remixer, who, in the past, was someone who had all the tracks available and could adjust or rearrange things but with complete flexibility—really revamp it. Nowadays, it goes further than that, sometimes it’s just like, “Let’s throw it all out,” and who knows if you’re even going to use one little bit of what was there before. Sometimes, I don’t know what the reference point is to the original recording. I don’t call that remixing; it’s a different production. In the past, when a remixer would do that, they would get credit for postproduction. You can’t really call it “remixing” anymore; where’s the original record? On the other hand, an editor uses the same production, as is, and it’s just about rearranging. You could be using the break, extending it and chopping it in a certain way, but that little bit you’re using over and over again was in the original, just the way it is. That’s the difference. The other thing is that over my whole career as an editor, almost everything I’ve picked has been my choice. It’s not someone coming to me saying, “I know you don’t like it, but it’s good money.” When I listen to a song, I either feel something or I don’t. When I like a record, I rearrange it just the littlest bit that it can stand, although, sometimes, it can stand a lot of rearrangement. In any case, I like it to begin with or I wouldn’t touch it. A lot of editors don’t really understand that; they come at it from a different angle, like, “I don’t like this record, but I’m going to make something out of it.”
James Brown Get On the Good Foot (Polydor promo) 1971
Krivit: I lived on Twelfth Street. The guy who lived above me, Jerry Schoenbaum, was vice president of Polydor—and good friends with my father. He knew I was just starting out DJing
Did he play it the way it was orchestrated on the record?
He tried, it was still him , but Motown in general had a little
9
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting