I originally come from the days of going to rave/ small house music
socials in '91-'92, in Phoenix. Back then we had a couple of great dj's
(ie. Eddie Amador, Len Sobeck (r.i.p.), and DJ Neal (Emile) that would
rock the dancefloors of phx, till the early mornings. They had great
track selection, tight beatmixing/ flow, and played from their soul,
whether it was house, techno, or breakbeat. That's what I learned from
those dj's. Then I started djing myself seriously in '94. I went to L.A.
with DJ Pari (who had moved to Phx. from Germany), to see Galliano and
Brass/ Mushroom Jazz DJ's Marques Wyatt and Mark Farina. We were both
impressd with them, because of their talents of mixing rare groove, acid
jazz, and house, always keeping a tight flow.
Then when me & Pari began the Hip Joint
night in Phx., Pari would play everything from Eddie Harris, Roy Ayers,
Prophets of Soul, Lonnie Smith, Marcos Valle, Jorge Ben, Shirley Bassey,
Hugh Masekela, Manu Dibango, to Acid Jazz/ Hip Hop ie. Galliano, Main
Street People, Jhelisa, MC Solaar, Outside, Dodge City Prod., and
Digable Planets. He would never mix a thing just cross fading, but the
crowds were always grooving. Then in '98, I saw Louie Vega play an
amazing 3 hr. set, where he played everything from rare groove, to
disco, to latin, afro-funk house, to funky house, to tech house, then to
jazzy house, and then to deep, deep house. he took us on a journey that
night. So, I learned from all four instances. A great DJ should spin a
wide range of tracks, beat mix smoothly, throw some unexpected tunes in,
and take the dancers on a long, audio journey.
Essential
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jul 24 2001 - 04:41:41 CEST