Larry Levan Dedication Part 1

DJ Spinna's Podcast

Here's a mix of some of my personal favorite Larry Levan remixes and productions. Many people in the dance community already understand the role that Larry had on shaping the New York club culture via the legendary Paradise Garage which lasted a little over a decade. I was fortunate enough to experience Larry's magic in the G the year the club came to an end in 1987. You could only get in as a member and luckily one of the older members on my block was able to make it happen for me. I was in my teens and it literally changed my life forever. I caught that bug...It's something that's embedded in your soul for an eternity. I sometimes hear from older members that I should have been around when he was really on fire in the earlier days, but 1987 was good enough for me. The sound system alone was something that I have yet to see duplicated. You could feel the bass in your chest. I remember riding home on the train feeling like I had gone deaf. My ears never rang again like it did that sunday afternoon. I grew up listening to his music mainly on WBLS via Frankie Crocker and Tony Humphries in the early 80s' and I have memories of going to my local record store in the neighborhood to buy jams like 'Let's Go Dancin'' by Sparque and I got 'My Mind Made Up' by Instant Funk, both included in this session. As a New Yorker and anyone living in New York in the 80's you couldn't really avoid Larry's work. Some of his work even infiltrated the hip hop world via samples with records like 'Heartbeat' by Taana Gardner, '7th Heaven' used in Biggie's 'Friend of Mine' and Central Line's 'Walking Into Sunshine' used in the classic LL Cool J/Marley Marl remix of 'Jingling Baby.' Some call it Boogie, some say Disco, and some Garage but at the end of the day it's straight up good music that you can dance to and enjoy, period! This is part one, more to come shortly. Uno, Spinna