The Story
Producer, keyboardist and songwriter Boyd Jarvis grew up between Brooklyn, Boston and Harlem, and every stop added something to his sound.
The first record he bought with his own money was Crown Heights Affair's "Super Rod." The band lived on the corner of his block, he used to listen to them rehearse, and he even took "Super Rod" as his graffiti tag.
In Boston's Roxbury, radio stations like WILD played deep Black music, from the Isley Brothers to Gil Scott-Heron. At the Harriet Tubman House, a community center in a four-story brownstone, he would climb to the top floor and listen to musicians rehearse. That's where he fell in love with fusion jazz, and with heroes like George Duke, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock.
Back in New York, he started spinning and buying records around 1976. His first professional record grew out of an instrumental and became "The Music Got Me," released by Prelude after he and his partner were already playing their instrumentals on WBLS.
In Boyd Jarvis's Words
“To us it was all just funky.”
Boyd Jarvis
“That was our music.”
Boyd Jarvis
On the Playlist
- Crown Heights Affair – "Super Rod"
- Sly and the Family Stone
- Isley Brothers
- Gil Scott-Heron
- George Duke
- Herbie Hancock
Questions & Answers
What was the first record Boyd Jarvis bought?
Boyd Jarvis told StarPower Collective the first record he bought with his own money was Crown Heights Affair's "Super Rod"; the band lived on the corner of his block.
