Walter Gibbons, David Mancuso and Arthur Russell--these are the three innovators from the downtown dance scene of the 1970s that I've been drawn to repeatedly while researching the culture. All were shy, Walter perhaps most of all, yet were also remarkably articulate when they communicated through music. I started to dig deep into Walter's contribution during research for Love Saves the Day and ended up positioning him as one of the key figures in the book thanks to his groundbreaking DJing style (which saw him innovative the technique of mixing between the breaks) and remixes (he edited the first commercial 12" single, "Ten Percent", and was the first DJ to manipulate the multitrack tapes on his mix of "Hit and Run"). Walter's increasingly strident religious convictions led him to marginalise himself from the dance scene towards the end of the 1970s but that didn't stop him from releasing one of the most innovative mixes of the 1980s--Strafe's "Set It Off". I've written quite extensively about Walter--see the articles listed below--and plan to write more in the future when I've had the chance to complete further interviews.
DISCOGRAPHIES
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 2 August 1975, Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Outside Inn, 13 September 1975, Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 22 November 1975, Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 27 December 1975. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 28 February 1976. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 10 April 1976. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 15 May 1976. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Galaxy 21, 12 June 1976. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Better Days, 9 October 1976. Record World. here.
Walter Gibbons, Second Storey, 25 December 1976. Record World. here.
ARTICLES / BOOKS
Brewster, Bill. "Walter Gibbons". Record Collector, 2005.
Harvey, Steven. "Behind the Groove". Collusion. September 1983.
Kent, Al, Lee, Dave. "Walter Gibbons", Keep On, Vol. 4.
Lawrence, Tim. “Disco Madness: Walter Gibbons and the Legacy of Turntablism and Remixology”, Journal of Popular Music Studies, 2008.
Lawrence, Tim. Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79. Index references: Walter Gibbons and John "Jellybean Benitez, 217; Better Days, 217; Better Days, 261; and Kenny Carpenter, 214, 215, 399; Disco Boggie, 265; Disco Madness, 384-85; DJing style, 215, 216, 217, 218, 383, 410; Double Exposure, 213-14, 218, 410; Galaxy 21, 214, 261; and François Kevorkian, 216, 217, 411; Loleatta Holloway, 261, 263-64; Bettye LaVette, 325; and Larry Levan, 411; Love Committee, 324-25, and Tom Moulton, 212, 268, 325; music, 215 (discography: Outside Inn 1975), 218; and the New York Record Pool, 158; Outside Inn, 214, 215; remixing style, 218, 263-64, 268-69, 411; Salsoul, 213-14; Salsoul Orchestra 224-25, 325; Sanctuary (Seattle), 324; and Nicky Siano, 246; Strafe, 392; and David Todd, 214.
Lawrence, Tim. “Mixed with Love: The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology”, Suss’d Records 2004.
Lawrence, Tim. “Walter Gibbons: Jungle Music”, Strut, 2010.
McMillan, Neil. "Cut Up or Shut Up: An Edited History of Cut 'n' Paste".
MISCELLANY
Walter Gibbons memorial service.