Who are the geniuses of Disco?

[Tim Tam]

Hi all,

well geniuses might be a big word but who would you consider the outstanding figures in Disco? I am thinking more about writers and producers rather than artists and DJ's but feel free to include them if you think they deserve a mention.
I am still learning about the genre and would like to learn more (Why I'm asking) but I would say that obviously Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were pretty important figures.

Cheers,
Tim Tam

[marc0]

Giorgio Moroder. And a few others. ;)

[Bernie]

I'm going to start by suggesting a few that definitely deserve to be mentioned.

From Philly we have the likes of Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff and Vincent Montana. If it came out from Philly then they were probably involved.
From New York comes Patrick Adams whose underground and gritty sound would weave its way into the mainstream via tracks by Musique and Inner Life.

There are tons more so I'll let the other members join in.

[Videoskooter]

Tom Moulton is definitely 1 of the godfathers. Earl Young is a genius too.

Of course Alec R. Costandinos, Cerrone, Don Ray and Boris Midney had a great output in Eurodisco.

And (like it or not) Richie Rome, Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo.

Not to forget QUINCY JONES!

[Zef]

Leroy Burgess
Francois Kervokian
Mauro Malavasi

[Spellbound]

Alec R. Costandinos, Cerrone, Don Ray and Boris Midney

Whether these 4 are geniuses is subject to debate though.

[Videoskooter]

Whether these 4 are geniuses is subject to debate though.

Interesting reaction Sam :icon_mrgreen:

So, ehmmm, who are your picks????? Geniuses of Disco I mean, not serial killers!

If you have a problem with me, do it via PM and not on the board plz. I would enjoy a very HARD discussion with you pal!

[Bernie]

Whether these 4 are geniuses is subject to debate though.

Spellbound,

Again with the off-topic, rude and negative remarks. If you don't have anything useful to say then stay out. I've warned you before and this will be the last time I'll tell you to stop these negative hit-and-run-with-no-useful-info comments. Next time I'll just delete your account.

[originalbigm]

Bernard Edwards and Niles Rogers producer,writers and performers of CHIC fame:lol:

When mentioning Earl Young one would be remiss in not including Ron Baker and Norman Harris of Baker-Harris-Young production and writing fame;)

Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of the Casey-Finch writing and production team:-D

[qdearl]

Most of my favorites has already been mentioned ;)
But I thinks these others deserve some recognition also....

Randy Muller - responsible for so many songs from Brass Construction to Skyy

Rinder & Lewis - El Coco, Saint Tropez, etc.

Leon Silvers,III & Solar Records (pick a group...any group) :-D -Shallamar, Lakeside, Dynasty, Whispers, etc.

Early 80's you have

Nick Martinelli, Tony Valor, Steve Washington/Steve Arrington (that whole Slave/Aurra/Deja thing...)8-)

[srg]

Dino Fekaris
Freddie Perren
both involved in the very commercial, poppy disco (tavares, gloria gaynor, peaches & herb)- great hooks, too!

Norman Whitfield
got especially psychedelic and dancy in the 70's (undisputed truth, temptations)

Simon Soussan
one of my all-time faves, even though he is dissed today as being cheesy...I love the frantic, percussion-heavy masterpieces he gave discolife back in the golden era...French Kiss (absolutely all cuts!), Queen of Fools (Jessica Williams, what an intro!), Patti Brooks (especially After Dark), Arpeggio, Romance, and (my personal favourite) I Close My Eyes and Count To Ten by the Simon Orchestra...I remember the energy created on the floor whenever his stuff was played...through the roof!

[Tim Tam]

Hi all,

Thanks to all those who posted. Quite a few people there whose names were new to me (No surprise there) and I can use the info you have given to further my search for the best in Disco music.

Thanks again,
Tim Tam

[pipecock]

i'm not gonna say whether i agree or disagree with each person mentioned. but here's the people i think should have been mentioned already but haven't been:
shep pettibone (all his early 80's spacey dub mixes of boogie and synth pop tracks are wonderful! one of my personal favorites)
larry levan (can't believe he wasnt mentioned?!?! almost all his mixes are classics. along with shep and francios k, they loved the dub effects and electronic effects in general...)
eric matthew (his early productions like love insurance, keep on dancin, to his later proto-house electronic productions for toney lee, sinnamon, sharon redd, etc. another genius that is not getting enough recognition)
jacques fred petrus (Change and BB&Q band, such elegant and lovely production and great songs in general)
giorgio moroder (his solo stuff, donna summer, munich machine, suzy lane, sparks, etc etc. ridiculous amount of excellent material)
walter gibbons (his mixes are so legendary, i cant believe no one mentioned him. he's up there with moulton no doubt.)
claudio simonnetti and giancarlo meo (easy going, capricorn, kasso, etc. they made so many jams its silly)
gino soccio (his solo stuff, karen silver)

those are the guys who do it for me. anything theyre involved in, ill check. i could play so much music just from them it would be silly!

[marc0]

i'm not gonna say whether i agree or disagree with each person mentioned. but here's the people i think should have been mentioned already but haven't been:

giorgio moroder (his solo stuff, donna summer, munich machine, suzy lane, sparks, etc etc. ridiculous amount of excellent material)

Mentioned, by me. ;)

[rhessel]

Hi everybody:

IMHO:

- Baker, Harris & Young;
- Gamble & Huff;
- Tom Moulton;
- Meco Monardo;
- Giorgio Moroder;
- Richie Rome.

Cheers,

Hessel

[rhessel]

Oh my God, how could I forget him?

Alec R. Costandinos.

Cheers,

Hessel

[Paulo]

For me, towering above all are:
WILLIAM MICHAEL LEWIS & LAURIN RINDER

Followed close by:
GREG DIAMOND, VINCENT MONTANA and GAMBLE & HUFF

Below are:
CERRONE and BORIS MIDNEY

The main criticism of the ROCK community here in Brazil (at the time) was that all disco was artificial and manufactured. Every DISCO group followed blindly the orders of the producer. It was said that, while ROCK bands tended to produce themselves, DISCO or POP acts were totally brainless, just relying on the sound of producers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in relying on the sound of producers. This just means that what you dig the most is the work of THE PRODUCERS themselves.

What I mean to say is:
I couldn't care less if the SAINT TROPEZ girls had 0% of "say" in the production. What I want to hear is the Rinder & Lewis string and brass arrangements, keyboard solos, etc....

Whenever I listen to Andrea True Connection's 1976 album MORE MORE MORE, the last thing I am interested is in Andrea herself. In contrast, the production values of Greg Diamond are easily recognizable and original, just as they are in Starcruiser or Bionic Boogie.

You may like Charo's voice, but it is The Salsoul Orchestra and Vincent Montana work behind it that counts.

[marc0]

Did someone mentionned Gene Page? And Barry White?

Gloria Scott's "As long as we're together"

& Love unlimited's "I'm So Glad That I'm A Woman"

or Page's "All our Dreams are coming true"

Are good examples or the "beginning of" the Disco Era

[remicks]

*****

The main criticism of the ROCK community here in Brazil (at the time) was that all disco was artificial and manufactured. Every DISCO group followed blindly the orders of the producer. It was said that, while ROCK bands tended to produce themselves, DISCO or POP acts were totally brainless, just relying on the sound of producers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in relying on the sound of producers. This just means that what you dig the most is the work of THE PRODUCERS themselves.

What I mean to say is:
I couldn't care less if the SAINT TROPEZ girls had 0% of "say" in the production. What I want to hear is the Rinder & Lewis string and brass arrangements, keyboard solos, etc....

Whenever I listen to Andrea True Connection's 1976 album MORE MORE MORE, the last thing I am interested is in Andrea herself. In contrast, the production values of Greg Diamond are easily recognizable and original, just as they are in Starcruiser or Bionic Boogie.

You may like Charo's voice, but it is The Salsoul Orchestra and Vincent Montana work behind it that counts.

Excellent points. Vocals were often used as just one more musical instrument in the hands of the composer.

Whenever "outsiders" critique disco .... it always amuses/aggravates me as to how ignorant they are about it as they overly generalize about it . It is very hard to be so exact about disco … because as a music form it was all over the place … as those of us who have taken the time to explore it know all too well. .
In the first place there were also many disco acts that did write and perform their own stuff ... Bohannon , EW&F , Dan Hartman, KC , Abba , Brass Construction .…(long list ) etc.......
Secondly there were many rock acts that depended on studio production for their sound too . What would the Beatles have been like without George Martin ? Would they have ever used French horns for example without this additional help ??

Three Dog Night ….one of the seventies most successful rock acts ..… never wrote any of their songs ..... not a one.....I suppose those same disco critics didn’t like Phil Spector either, Richard Perry , Arif Mardin ..or anything Motown …..


But as you said Paulo we disco fans … love our producers ! :D8)
I eagerly seek out anything that says Van McCoy, Dave Crawford, Bunny Sigler, Meco , Ray Martinez , Whitfield, Wheeler , Davis, Schatz... ….. (long list ) etc. ….We appreciate all the hours these folks spent in the studio devoted to getting the sounds right... and the extra work it took to bring in entire sections of strings and horns and percussion .. As well as that little added wood block or triangle or cowbell ….and , oh ya .... even the choral voices .....
Unlike much of rock ( i.e. Punk, Hair bands , Garage, Metal, Grunge ) ....much of disco is compositionally quite complicated . Which is an element I like about it ... I like layered music that weaves in and out using a variety of instruments ... thanks to the talents of a composer/ producer ....

Not all disco does that though ... some is quite successfully minimal ....
as I said disco is hard to stereotype in the simple way its antagonists try to ..........


*****

[Paulo]

.....Unlike much of rock (i.e. Punk, Hair bands, Garage, Metal, Grunge) ....much of disco is compositionally quite complicated.....

Yes Remicks...
Even today in 2006, one of the things that I think it is absurd is when the press says that POP music is crap, but serious ROCK bands like U2, Nirvana, Systems Of Down or Linking Park are called ALTERNATIVE (meaning alternative music to the boring, tedious POP mainstream).

Not only these bands, but ROCK music is the genre which sells the biggest quantity of albums in the world. From that perspective it just can't be alternative... that's mass consumption.

I'd wish I could lauch a subversive theory against this rock'n'roll world domination and massification:

What we have today is a reversion of values:
What is called ALTERNATIVE ROCK is in fact very POP because it sells to the masses. And the supposed mainstream music (HOUSE for instance or any other obscure forms of dance music) is the real ALTERNATIVE MUSIC.