This f**ker’s nine minutes long?!” Yeah, just long enough to blow your brains out!” This was the recorded exchange between funk legend saxophonist Maceo Parker and drummer Skip McDonald in Arthur Baker’s studioa piece of candid dialogue that can be heard in the opening moments of the song’s original 1994 version just before they jammed the track that years later would become the debut Brooklyn Funk Essentials song. Naturally entitled ‘Blow Your Brains Out’, the song was re-recorded and produced by longtime bassist and producer Lati Kronlund along with new vocals from UK singer-songwriter Alison Limerick.
Cool And Steady And Easy was produced by prolific producer Arthur Baker (Afrika Bambaataa, New Order) and Lati Kronlund, a duo who met in the 1990s after Baker was captivated by the Alison Limerick single Where Love Lives,” which Kronlund wrote and produced. In a twist of fate, Limerick later joined Brooklyn Funk Essentials, and has been the lead vocalist since 2016. A sonic trip of brass, courtesy of trombonist Ebba Asman and Loïc Gayot on tenor sax, the new rendition of “Blow Your Brains Out” includes vocals and guitar by Desmond Foster, congas by Rickard Valdés, keyboards by Kristoffer Wallman, Lati Kronlund again as producer, bassist and additional keys, plus
Maceo Parker
saxophone, alto
b.1943
” data-original-title title>Maceo Parker’s original alto sax parts in the mix.
On the flip side is Brooklyn Recycles” which was initially a Maceo feature, but is now wholly rewritten by BFE’s original trombone player Joshua Roseman, with trumpet by Bassy Bob Brockmann, saxophone by Paul Shapiro, and the inimitable spoken word of Everton Sylvester. The title comes from a billboard poster outside the entrance to a Brooklyn subway station, where Kronlund lived at the time of recording Cool And Steady And Easy. Aptly, the band started out initially by reusing old recordings from Baker’s studio basement and now once again find themselves remixing again three decades later.
Over 30 years and seven albums, Brooklyn Funk Essentials have established a global following for their music that fuses Soul, Hip Hop, Spoken Word, Jazz, Latin and of course Funk. Their celebrated 1994 debut album <em>Cool And Steady And Easy </em>scored an underground hit with the version of Pharoah Sanders and
Leon Thomas
vocals
1937 – 1999
’ The Creator Has a Master Plan,” while tracks like Take The L Train” and Big Apple Boogaloo” became DJ favourites. Upon its US release, the LP was awarded Best Alternative R&B Album of the Year by Billboard and has achieved over 16 million Spotify spins to date. Next followed 2nd album
in 2023.
Intuition featured a string of hit singles; Scream”, AA Side Single” and How Happy”. Of the first single Scream!”, Jazz FM said “I’m a little bit addicted to it” and “Here is a tune that we’re all loving, it’s just so good”, and Blues & Soul called it “A stonking cut of Afro Funk blessedness”. The follow up ‘AA Side Single’ was equally well received, Jazz FM said “It sounds particularly good on a Friday!” and Blues & Soul called it “A funk behemoth”. When 3rd single How Happy” dropped, Jazz FM gushed “Alison Limerick sounding sublime on that choppy, funky tune!”.