Who is the Greatest (Disco) DJ technically

[the whistler]

Hi there & Greeting from Australia ,I'm sure you guy's have covered this topic a thousand times but I'm just wondering who was/is the GREATEST disco DJ technically (perfectionist)? and does he/she have any mix tape/c.d's available so I can purchace them.
Also, are there mix tapes of all top disco dj's for sale?

Cheers

[Forrrce]

Some of the best mixers I've heard, I haven't actually seen play (people like Timmy Regisford, Tony Humphries and Farley - I used to get given tapes of theirs in the '80s) and one of the worst was Larry Levan, whom I did witness. My citeria is rather limited - getting difficult records in time seems to do it for me!

You can download countless mixes from DJs, old and new, here...

[QUINNY]

Forrrce: That's an interesting site, although maybe some of the dates can be taken with a large pinch of salt. One Frankie Knuckles mix for instance says 1979 but starts with Steve Harvey - Tonight which as far as I can remember first came out in 1983 or 4. Now, a jock mixing in 1979 couldn't be expected to be as good as the same jock spinning in 1983 or 1984 with that much more experience in mixing and programming under his belt. Even with 16 years out of it, I'd probably make a much better stab at mixing material from '79, than I ever did back in the day, once I'd familiarised myself with the tracks.

Keeping difficult records in time is just a part of the equation and almost anyone could make a stab at that (witness DJ Discotizer from 1978/9 on the same site doing very average short blends, although was he SO far behind the best at the time? I don't know).

If you can mix 2 records, for lets say, up to a minute, without either of them becoming obviously slow or fast against the other, bring the record in at the beginning of a 16, 20, 24 or 32 bar sequence and make it exciting time after time, then you are approaching good mixing. If you can throw in surprises, snippets, mix up lengths of track used and keep the floor humming or better still work it up to crescendos that increase in intensity to a fever pitch, still have punters wanting more and then throw the odd curve ball of a track that makes your set unique, then you're a great mixer.

As for the best. Surely that's highly subjective and almost impossible to answer with any authority. For instance, Larry Levan WAS by all accounts an average mixer, but his influence has been immense. Does that make him one of the best or one of the worst?
Turn that on its head and I suspect the absolute, most blinding mixer there has ever been, is maybe someone nobody's ever heard of.

The best I ever saw was DJ Sanny X at a DJ convention in 1985, but I have to say that his mixing pyrotechnics left me a little cold, 'cos it was all brilliant style and little brilliant content. It was then that I realised I was on borrowed time.

[Forrrce]

As you can tell, Quinny, my flippant reply wasn't intended for serious ruminating. But, it's a difficult question and the world at large will never be in agreement.

I must say, that the most impressive DJ I ever saw was Claude Young (at Lost), who did the most amazing 3-deck manipulation I've ever witnessed. He was playing 140 mph techno, which means nothing to me - however I saw what he was doing first hand and he was simply unbelievable. Anybody who can play, change, cut, syncopate, blend and completely f**k up several records in the space of a minute without losing a beat gets my heartiest props. Technical ability, speed, sheer cheek (moving the beats of tracks around in the blink of an eye, creating as he went along) - this guy is something else. And he ceratinly went through his box quicker than anyone I've ever seen!

Yeah, the house mixes must be taken with several scoops of Saxo - one of the 'Larry In Japan' mixes starts with him being introduced to the crowd in bad Japanese-English. Er, why???? One of the more iffy entries, methinks...

[DJ Jimmy M]

I'd say the best disco DJ that had so much creativity and paved the way for what alot of todays DJ's do was Bobby Viteritti. Check out some samples of his great work at..... and see for yourself. Also he does have CD's of his briliant nights at Trocadero Transfer avalible for purchase. You can inquire about those at the site as well.

DJ Jimmy M

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[NickNack]

Hey Guys,

Some of you will notice there are URL's missing from your posts. It's me, playing the bitch :x . Just being cautious about linking to sites offering music, especially those sites permitting downloads. There will be times when url's will be left up, such as those helping people ID there long, searched for songs.

If you think I've edited you mistakenly or unfairly, please send me a pm for discussion. I sometimes can be as over zealous as anyone. :)