David Mancuso has without doubt had a profound influence on modern club culture. DJs such as Francois K, Danny Krivit, Tony Humphries, and David Morales all attended his legendary “Loft” parties. Nicky Siano (Studio 54) still recalls his first trip to The Loft with great fondness. On the sleeve notes for the first Loft compilation on Nuphonic Frankie Knuckles talks about his first visit, being taken there as Larry Levan’s guest. The parties are still running, although not as often, celebrating their 33rd anniversary this year.

Unlike the majority of DJs, David does not mix tracks together, instead playing every record in its entirity. His attention to detail when setting up a sound system is meticulous. Following months of correspondence, I was invited to meet David on his recent visit to Glasgow. I turned up armed with a multitude of questions, which had taken a serious amount of time to arrive at. As it turned out, I got the answers to almost all of my questions without having to open my mouth.

A local radio DJ, Niall Connolly, and myself had both been given the opportunity to meet David at CCA in Glasgow the evening before his “Loft” party. The tour during December had taken him away from his native New York over the festive period. Niall had turned up armed with a MD, a microphone and several questions. By the time I’d listened for an hour or so there really wasn’t too much left to ask.

What came out of the discussions more than anything else was David’s tremendous respect for people and for music in general As he put it during our chat, but for our love of the music we would never have had cause to meet. Niall’s interview is available for you to listen to by clicking the link below. This interview was recorded during 2002 and first published on the original jjazproject website during Spring 2003. JJazproJect would like to thank Niall for sharing the audio with us and, ofcourse, David Mancuso for taking the time to meet and talk with us. 

Click here to listen to the interview in full