D.J./Producer/Legends of Vinyl Board of Director

Shortly after graduating from St. John’s University in 1972 with a B.S. in Biology, Jackie became the first DJ at “The Bijou” (a danceclub built by members of the band ST-4).  The ST-4 played at many nightclubs throughout the Long Island area and they featured pre-recorded music tapes during breaks between sets.

When they built their own club, they asked Jackie to be their DJ, as he made many of the tapes for them.  The first night that Jackie played “live” was at the Grand Opening of the Bijou, in front of an audience of over one thousand people.

Being one of the first DJs in the area, Jackie soon began to work at other danceclubs throughout Long Island and Queens such as Community Gardens, Broadcaster’s Inn, Menagerie, Side Street and the Sea Turtle Inn (which was the first dance club in Ocean Beach, Fire Island).

 Future owner of Studio 54, Steve Rubell, frequented the Sea Turtle Inn and asked Jackie on numerous occasions to be his first DJ (prior to building his first club) but Jackie was busy with other endeavors and introduced him to friend Paul Casella, who became Steve and Ian’s first DJ instead.

The owners of Long Island’s first upscale mega-club, Penrods, hired Jackie to be their resident DJ where he worked Thursdays through Sundays from 1974 until 1977.  When the original owners of Penrods sold the club, Jackie left and began working in Manhattan at LesNuages, an underground club on the upper East Side, along with Jellybean Benitez.  Soon afterward, an even larger mega-club opened on Long Island called Uncle Sams and selected Jackie as the main resident DJ.

Uncle Sams was owned by American Avents Corporation, which owned a dozen extremely large clubs throughout the country.  The company acknowledged that Jackie did the best job of all DJs in their organization and promoted him to become Music Director for their facilities in Boston, Buffalo, Syracuse and Milwaukee in addition to his “home” club on Long Island.  By that time, Jackie was founder/owner of one of the most influential Record Pools in existence and had contacts with other Record Pool Directors nationwide, which made his job of selecting qualified DJs for the other facilities much easier.  When the company wanted Jackie to take on additional clubs in other cities, Jackie decided the traveling was too much and accepted a full-time position at Decameron, where he and friend Paul Casella got to work together again.

Over the years, Jackie continued to work at the largest clubs in the area but he also became well known as a nightclub promoter.  Jackie continues to operate the New York Music Pool (the longest continually operating Record Pool in existence… since 1975) and he still is an active DJ.  He says it has been a long journey since the time he started when vinyl albums and 45’s were the only type of music media.  Now he brings more music with him on a flash drive than what he was able to carry.

A Legends Of Vinyl Board Of Directors member, Jackie strives to educate club patrons to the attributes of songs that had lyrics with messages and meanings.  He says too many DJs today play rhythmic beats and studio tracks for hours on end.  People going to those clubs sadly do not know what they are missing.  Jackie takes songs from yesteryear, edits them in his studio and plays them along with contemporary selections in a way that is unique.