Walter Gibbons

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Walter Gibbons (April 2, 1954 - September 23, 1994) was an American record producer, early disco DJ and remixer.

Contents

[edit] Influence

He was an important part of the early 1970s New York disco underground scene, influencing garage and House music DJs like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan. He also laid the foundations for early 1980s experimental Chicago house music. [1] [2] One of the early pioneers of beat-mixing, and known for considerably more skillful mixing than many better known dj's at the time, he is cited by many early pioneers of the house-music scene as an influence. His "Disco Blend" remix of Double Exposure's "Ten Percent" was once described by UK DJ Ashley Beedle as providing a "blueprint for house music".

[edit] Style

Gibbons was known as "the DJ's DJ" because his peers would go out of their way to go hear him play. Kool DJ Herc brought Dub to the New York City music scene, where Gibbons and other remixers played it and applied dub techniques to dance music. He played disco songs, focusing more on the percussion than the melody, and "stretched out the grooves so much that they teetered on the edge of motionlessness." [3] Like Arthur Russell, who recorded with him, Gibbons "used dub as a dislocating device, preventing disco's simple groove from developing under the dancers' feet."[4]

[edit] Salsoul

He enjoyed a long association with Salsoul Records at the end of the 1970s. His DJ skills, punctuality and seriousness convinced Salsoul to assign him the remix of "Ten Percent", by Double Exposure), even though he had never produced. It was the first commercially available 12-inch single in the world. This was his best known remix.

His remix of "Hit and Run" by Loleatta Holloway was a surprise hit (he had considerably lengthened the recording and even removed Holloway's first two verses of vocals).

[edit] Tributes

The 1996 album "Walter's Room" was Black Science Orchestra's homage to Gibbons, released in London on Junior Boy's Own Records. [5]

Gibbons became a reborn Christian in the 1980s, but still managed to turn out cutting edge mixes during this period (he simply focused on songs and lyrics that did not offend his beliefs). He died of AIDS related symptoms in 1994.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shapiro, Peter (2000). Modulations: A History of Electronic Music. Caipirinha Productions, Inc., 70. ISBN 0819564982. 
  2. ^ Reynolds, Simon (1998). Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Little, Brown and Co.. ISBN 0415923735. 
  3. ^ Shapiro, Peter (2000). Modulations: A History of Electronic Music. Caipirinha Productions, Inc., 70. ISBN 0819564982. 
  4. ^ Shapiro, Peter (2000). Modulations: A History of Electronic Music. Caipirinha Productions, Inc., 70. ISBN 0819564982. 
  5. ^ Shapiro, Peter (2000). Modulations: A History of Electronic Music. Caipirinha Productions, Inc., 70. ISBN 0819564982. 

[edit] External links


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