Ben Ratliff wrote his first piece of criticism, about a Miles Davis concert he saw as a teenager, for his high school newspaper.
“So I wrote an article for, uh, the high school newspaper.”
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Ben Ratliff
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Ben Ratliff took a college writing class with the jazz critic of the Village Voice, named in the transcript as Gary Gittens.
“I took one writing class in college with a writer I really admired, um, the jazz critic for the Village Voice at that time, Gary Gittens.”
Ratliff says the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York has been open for about ninety-one years and is located below ground.
“Yes, it's been around for ninety-one years, I think. I saw many, many things there because you're below the ground.”
Bob Ludwig is a mastering engineer credited on thousands of well-known records, whom Ben Ratliff visited at his studio in Maine.
“Yes, that was Bob Ludwig, who people who have spent time looking at the back of record covers will recognize his name because he's been the mastering engineer for thousands of well-known records.”
During the studio visit, Bob Ludwig played 'So What' from Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue for Ben Ratliff.
“And he put on So What from the Miles Davis record Kind of Blue.”
During the pandemic, Ben Ratliff ran for much longer times, including in the middle of Bronx streets, which led to his discovery about listening.
“So then the pandemic came, and time got all weird. I could run in the middle of the street in the Bronx”
Ben Ratliff says running with music makes every recording feel like a live performance to him.
“I realize now that one thing about what running with music does for me is it essentially makes all music live music.”
Eric Dolphy's album At the Five Spot, which Ratliff used as his main running example, was made in 1961.
“the record is Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot. And it was made in 1961.”
On Eric Dolphy's 'The Prophet', the solos run in order from Dolphy on saxophone, to Booker Little on trumpet, to Mal Waldron on piano.
“in The Prophet, first you hear Eric Dolphy's saxophone solo, then you hear Booker Little's trumpet solo, and then you hear a piano solo by Mal Waldron.”
Ben Ratliff chose the instrumental version of 'It's Yours' by the Wu-Tang Clan to represent Staten Island at the marathon's start.
“The instrumental version of It's yours by the Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang is Staten Island, Staten Island is Wu-Tang.”
Ratliff says Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was the setting for the movie Saturday Night Fever.
“one of the most famous things about Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is that it was the setting for Saturday Night Fever, the movie”
Ratliff says the film's scenes used the 2001 Odyssey disco, a working disco in Bay Ridge in the late 1970s.
“I believe that the film's scenes, uh, actually used the disco 2001 Odyssey, which was, you know, a functioning disco in Bay Ridge in the in the late seventies.”
Ratliff says Nile Rodgers of Chic played in a Staten Island bar band before forming Chic, which links Staten Island and Brooklyn in his playlist.
“Nile Rodgers from Chic, before Chic, used to play in a bar band in Staten Island all the time, so he can be our Verrazzano Bridge connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn.”
Ratliff associates Run DMC with Queens, where the group came from, and chose their song 'Slow and Low' for that stretch of the marathon.
“In Queens, you can think about Run DMC, who came from Queens.”
Grupo Folclórico y Experimental Nueva Yorkino was a group that existed for a short time in the 1970s.
“a group that existed for a short time in the seventies, called Grupo Folclórico y Experimental Nueva Yorkino.”
The group's musicians, some American-born and some from Cuba, gathered for practice and listening sessions in the basement of the Gonzalez brothers in the South Bronx.
“some, um, American-born, some from Cuba, uh, et cetera, who all convened for these kind of intense practice sessions and listening sessions in the basement of two musician brothers, the Gonzalez brothers, in the South Bronx.”
Ratliff says the song 'Canto E Bioso' is a Cuban rumba and that rumba is, in his view, about the best music for running.
“It's a Cuban rumba, um, but rumba in general, rumba music in general, I find to be about as good as it gets for running.”
Ratliff chose the instrumental 'Bougie Bougie' by Ashford and Simpson to represent Manhattan on his marathon playlist.
“I thought of this song by Ashford and Simpson called Bougie Bougie, which is, um, again, like the Wu-Tang song, it's an instrumental”
Ratliff says DJ Larry Levan presided over the Paradise Garage disco in the 1970s and 1980s and sometimes used 'Bougie Bougie' at the start of a set.
“a great DJ named Larry Levan, who was sort of who was presided over this great disco in the seventies and eighties called Paradise Garage”