Francis Grasso

Francis Grasso (March 25, 1949 - March 20, 2001)) was an American soul music disc jockey from New York City, best known for inventing the technique of beatmatching (sometimes referred to as mixing or blending) which is the foundation of the modern club DJ's technique. Grasso, who attended Brooklyn Technical High School and Long Island University, started his DJ career in 1968 at a New York nightclub called Salvation II. When the primary DJ Terry Noel failed to show up on time one night, the owners offered Grasso a chance at the job. The crowd responded almost immediately and soon he had his first regular gig. It was there and at subsequent New York clubs such as Tarots and his most famous nightclub, Sanctuary — a former German Baptist church at 43rd Street & 9th Avenue (featured in the movie Klute) — where Grasso perfected his craft. Grasso was the first DJ outside of the radio broadcasting business to require headphones as part of his setup. This allowed him to preview a record on one turntable while another played on the second turntable. By using headphones in combination with slip-cueing, he changed the art of DJing. The records that Grasso was mixing used live drummers and not beat machines. It took skill and a good ear to mix these records for more than a few seconds which Grasso perfected to longer and longer sequences. The most impressive addition Grasso brought to DJ culture was music programming; the art of picking up on the energy of the crowd and sending that energy right back to them through the next track. Early on, Grasso used Thorens turntables although they were a far cry from the Technics turntables most DJs use in clubs today. Soon he taught others and Grasso spread the art of mixing by maintaining a constant beat and working the crowd with the music throughout New York. Though he died in March 2001, the skills and techniques he pioneered remain the foundation of what is heard in a modern nightclub. Francis was interviewed in Josell Ramos' 2003 feature-length documentary Maestro. ^[1]

9 relations: Beatmatching, Brooklyn Technical High School, Disc jockey, Headphones, Klute, Long Island University, Nightclub, Technics SL-1200, Thorens.

Beatmatching

Beatmatching or pitch cue is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching an upcoming track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track, and to adjust them such that the beats (and, usually, the bars) are synchronised — i.e., the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously.

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Brooklyn Technical High School

Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly referred to as Brooklyn Tech, and administratively designated as High School 430, is a New York City public high school that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

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Disc jockey

A disc jockey, often abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays existing recorded music for a live audience.

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Headphones

Headphones (or head-phones in the early days of telephony and radio) are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears.

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Klute

Klute is a 1971 American neo-noir crime-thriller film directed and produced by Alan J. Pakula, written by Andy and Dave Lewis, and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, and Roy Scheider.

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Long Island University

Long Island University (LIU) is a private, non-profit, nonsectarian institution of higher education with locations and programs spanning the New York metropolitan area, overseas, and online.

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Nightclub

A nightclub, music club or club, is an entertainment venue and bar that usually operates late into the night.

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Technics SL-1200

Technics SL-1200 is a series of direct-drive turntables originally manufactured from October 1972 until 2010, and resumed in 2016, by Matsushita under the brand name of Technics.

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Thorens

Thorens is a Swiss manufacturer of high-end audio equipment.

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References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Grasso

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Francis Grasso

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