Brooklyn neighbors of Spike Lee’s 85-year-old musician father want him to do the right thing — and keep it down!
Jazz great Bill Lee’s round-the-clock jam sessions in his Fort Greene brownstone are making life miserable for some residents, who say the racket is keeping them and their kids awake at night.
“I can’t live like this. It’s all the time,” said one who has been living next door to Lee for about three years. “If [the music] ended at 10 [p.m.], I could almost deal with it. But you never know when it’s going to start.”
The neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said the filmmaker’s dad hosts “a constant parade of musicians” who swing by to jam with him and another son, Arnold, at all hours, sometimes playing past 2 a.m.
But Bill Lee, who has been living and playing music in his family home on Washington Park for more than 40 years, insists it has never been an issue until now.
“I don’t think of music as a problem,” said Lee, who plays bass and piano. “Music is a big part of this house. Always has been.”
Bill’s wife, Susan, 61, added: “Why should anybody who’s lived a certain way in a neighborhood be forced to change? The thing that bothers me most about it is the attempt to criminalize and demonize the music and the musicians.”
Cops have responded to 17 noise complaints at the Lee residence this year, a police source says.
The neighbor insisted she only wants consideration for her and her tenant’s kids.
“I’ve even offered to help pay for soundproofing,” the neighbor said. “They won’t agree to anything.
“They’ll say things like ‘Your kids are getting a great musical education. What’s the problem?’ ”
But Susan Lee said her neighbors knew what they were getting into when they bought their homes.
“You happened to buy a piece of property next door to a well-known musician, You think people don’t know that Spike’s dad lives here before they move in?” she said.
A Spike Lee rep refused to comment on the spat.