Walter Gibbons

Walter Gibbons was an American record producer, early disco DJ, and remixer. He helped pioneer the remix and 12" single in America, and was among the most influential New York DJs of the 1970s.

Gibbons, along with hip hop pioneer Kool DJ Herc, was among the first American musicians to apply elements of Jamaican dub production to disco and dance music. 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." His mixes focused more on percussion than melody, and "stretched out the grooves so much that they teetered on the edge of motionlessness."

Gibbons was an important part of the early 1970s New York City 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. One of the early pioneers of beat-mixing, and known for considerably more skillful mixing than many better-known DJs at the time, he is cited by many early pioneers of the house-music scene as an influence.