DJ Jeff Stennett’s Biography
One individual who has long had his fingers on the collective pulse of New York City’s dancers is Jeff Stennett, A.K.A. “D.J. Jeff”, The man who keeps them dancing in between sets Saturday nights at the world famous Copacabana, and has kept them dancing for 11 years at midtowns La Maganette’s Restaurant. Other events include Mambo D’s Socials, Stardust Dance weekends in the Catskills, Club LQ, and a host of other events. It’s not unusual to see long lines of people by the DJ booth waiting for Stennett to hold up the cover of whatever CD he is playing, just waiting to offer high praise and shake his hand. And Stennett is quick to credit the folks in those lines with teaching him. I learned from the people and if it were not for the people I would not have gained much success. That was the biggest part of my education, as far as Deejaying goes, he explains.
DeeJay Jeff Stennett
Stennett, who is African-American, grew up in New York City in a predominantly white neighborhood, with a handful of black and Puerto Rican friends. He and a Latino who lived next door became close friends, listened to records together- Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, Joe Battan, Willie Colon, and all of the Salsa and Boogaloo music of that period. Stennett found that he had a good ear, and a natural affinity for Latin music, pointing out that he never experienced any language barrier. As he puts it, “The music speaks for itself”. He loves all kinds of music, but Salsa remains “number one” for him. He began Deejaying Latin music for almost two decades, and playing consistently in the clubs for the last seventeen years. The late Tony Rodriguez played an instrumental role in Stennett’s career, hiring him to work La Maganette’s Wednesday night “After work parties, after hearing DJ Jeff play at Bronx Club Tapestry. Stennett looked forward to the midtown action at “La Maganette”, and was not disappointed. He relished the opportunity to experiment. He loved to mix “the old school sound” (Charanga, the Fania sound, Classic Salsa, and Afro-Cuban music) with the new sound (Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, Ray Ruiz, ECT…). What is one bound to hear when Jeff is in the DJ Booth? Willie Rosario, Eddie Palmieri, Grupo Niche, El Gran Combo, Sonora Poncena, Son Sublime, Tipica Novel, and much more. Willie Rosario and Sonora Poncena are Stennett’s favorite orchestras, primarily because of their big band sound.
Always a good time at DeeJay Jeff's Events
Stennett realizes that keeping dancers on the floor is very definitely an art, much different than programming a radio show, where it is permissible to play tracks for listening. On any given night that “the inimitable DJ”Jeff deejays, one is bound to witness many outbreaks of spontaneous applause from the dance floor, in heartfelt, sincere appreciation of his superb mixes, and innate talent of just knowing what moves a particular crowd to swell the dance floor.
Since May of 2000, Stennett has been part of my Latin Beat Magazine column, “A Bite from the Apple”, every month he provides me and readers of the internationally circulated publication with “DJ Jeff’s Hot Pick”. One of his most recent highlights was receiving a Special Recognition Award this year from Latin Beat Magazine.
The respected and well-loved DJ has also shown that he cares deeply about his musical community, perpetuating the music and helping new artist and veterans alike-by donating his time and talents, participating in fundraiser benefits for my weekly Saturday afternoon program “Que Viva La Musica”, a non commercial-sponsored New York metro station WFDU-FM, since 1997
Vicki Sola, columnist, Latin Beat Magazine
And host/producer, “Que Viva La Musica”, 89.1 WFDU-FM
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