Let's keep dancing but today with a tinge of sadness. It was announced on Monday that David Mancuso has died aged 72. Mancuso is something of a legend. As a dj in New York in the 1970s he created invite only parties that mutated into The Loft, the spiritual home of NY disco. His 'anything goes as long as you can dance to it' attitude to his selections, his nights as a haven for the 'disaffected and disenfranchised' of New York, his state of the art sound system, his belief that mixing spoilt the purity of the records (he would play the whole song, leave a brief gap and then play another), his view of djing as creating a mood, a scene, taking the dancers on a journey- all hugely influential. And yet he still took the view that the dj should not be put on a pedestal, that the record selector was just one part of the party.
Musically he stretched far beyond disco, playing whatever records he found that made people dance. These two songs became alternative anthems due him championing them...
The Mexican by Babe Ruth.
Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango.
Embarrassed to admit that I was only vaguely familiar with him until recently. A true pioneer.
ReplyDeleteClub legend.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexican by Babe Ruth is such a classic.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing isn't it. Especially for a 70 r'n'b band from Hatfield.
ReplyDeleteSadly I knew nothing about him until now, but sounds like he was really inspiring and must have opened up a lot of good music to people who might not otherwise have listened to it.
ReplyDeleteJenny Haan from Babe Ruth is such a great, distinctive, incredibly strong female vocalist - I've often wondered why she didn't seem to be more well-known and credited at the time, at least not over here. Maybe she just didn't play the game when it came to 1970s front-women?!
A music hero for me. A DJ's DJ. If not for David Mancuso, there would be no Nicky Siano, no Frankie Knuckles, no Larry Levan...I would have the joy of hearing him spin in later incarnations of The Loft and Choice. A David Mancuso night was enlightening on the spirit and power of music to bring people together. Mancuso developed the first record pool for DJ's to spin the latest sounds and promote dance music. He had a hand in developing the sound systems of almost every large and small club that mattered in Manhattan in the 70's and 80's and his ideas and techniques in sound are used to this day. Mancuso is the man who filled a room with bass bins and made you really feel the music.
ReplyDeleteDavid Mancuso was a man with little time for sycophants and hangers on. He was gruff, rough, not terribly personable upon first meeting. But he was a genius, a magician...he was a music man.
I was waiting for your input Echorich.
ReplyDelete