Danny Krivit

A New York DJ vet with an endless list of credentials, Danny Krivit has been involved in his city's dance/club scene since childhood, and has had a profound impact upon it. Only Frankie Knuckles and François Kevorkian have been inside the dance community as long as he has. In addition to all but defining the term "veteran DJ," Krivit has amassed an endless succession of re-edits that have extended the lives of many songs on dance floors.

Krivit has been surrounded by music since birth. In his youth, he worked at his father's laid-back Greenwich Village hideout, where Charles Mingus, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix were some of the big figures who stopped by. Krivit's father was a heavy hitter in the music industry. He managed Chet Baker for a period, and introduced his son to several heroes, including James Brown. Krivit's short time spent learning the guitar — spurred by his friend, Nile Rodgers — proved unfruitful, but he eventually realized by the time he hit his teenage years that he preferred music that provoked dancing. So he decided to take up DJ'ing.

His first gigs were at a disco called the Ninth Circle. Though a shoddy set-up at the venue hamstrung him into mixing with two cassette decks, his performances went over well. His Dad opened a second place, Ones, and enlisted the services of his son as the resident jock. This upped the DJ's profile even more and led to an extended stint at Trude Heller's during the latter third of the '70s. Other residencies and appearances at places like the Roxy, Laces, the Ice Palace, the Paradise Garage, Traxx and Danceteria followed. Krivit was a close friend of the Paradise Garage's Larry Levan; they were so tight that Levan once worked the sound for him at an anniversary party for the incredibly influential club.

Krivit is still going strong after thirty years. He teamed up with François Kevorkian and Joe Claussell to start Body & SOUL, a regular Sunday night event that became an extremely beloved, diverse, and low-key phenomenon for New York City clubbers. And in 2001, the Strut label issued Grass Roots, an excellent two-disc mix from Krivit that paid respect to the DJ's funky disco leanings.