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Manny Ward

14 listings in 9 named rooms, over the last three years · Pennsylvania

Manny Ward has always been around music, as most musicians are.  As luck would have it, he grew up with a Mom who’d send him out to buy records for her many house parties because he had a knack in finding great music that was not always charted.  His stepdad produced R&B and Soul for artist like Jocelyn Brown, and Evelyn Champagne’ King. His step dad brought him out to his first club experience at the Funhouse in NYC.  Then there was the fateful meeting with the Godfather of House; Frankie Knuckles in the early 90s who took Manny under his wing and launched his DJ career in NYC.

Through these journeys of following music, from DJ-ing when he was in the military at base parties, to playing along side Frankie Knuckles at New York’s famous Roxy, Sound Factory Bar, Tunnel, and regular gigs at Stereo in Montreal, to eventually producing his own remixes and tracks. Some of them now cult classics. This Staten Island boy saw a dream realized.  Then this prolific talent left the industry for a few years only to be returned at the request of his friends/teachers Angel Moraes, Danny Tenaglia, and David Morales. This made him realize this was his calling.  And thank goodness he did return.

The rest of it — five more paragraphs

This second phase of his career has seen many more milestones as he ramped up his production skills with notable remix opportunities.  He has been able to collaborate with many talented producers and musicians, including Celeda, Lula, and DJ Gomi, with whom he reintroduced legendary Sandy B with new original music written by all three. “Resilience” was the result and has graced many DJ charts and on Hector Romero’s 2019 Weaving Genres compilation. In the Fall of 2017, he was asked by the legendary Nona Hendryx to remix a single off of her new album with Soul Clap.  He enlisted long-time friend, Curtis Atchison (Midnight Society) to help out, with whom he had recently collaborated on a floor banger “Big Mouth” on Twisted Records.    That Fall, Retrotech was born. This partnership has proven fruitful as a DJ duo as well. They were given several remix opportunities in 2018. Black Stereo Faith (Ultra Naté & Quentin Harris), Lenny Kravitz, Nenah Cherry, Stevie Nicks, and Kiwi Dreams and much more to come. Incidentally, Kravitz’ “Low” became his first #1 Dance on Billboard.  Manny has continued doing solo work putting out a single with remixes on DJ Pierre’s Afro Acid Records in 2019, which was getting recognition by DJ’s such as Danny Tenaglia before it even came out!

In between, he’s also been busy DJ-ing, criss-crossing the country, and a regular participant at ADE in Amsterdam, and N Y’s legendary party Birdcage.  With everything going on, be sure to keep a watch on Manny’s next move because it will be nothing but delightful and surprising.

Contact info: DJMannyward.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manny.ward https://www.facebook.com/MannyWard.dj/ Instagram:@MannyWard Sent from my iPhone

RETROTECH:

Retrotech is Manny Ward and Curtis Atchison. The name comes from a party the duo created for which they and their guest DJ’s could play music that reflected their love of dance music, old and new. Previous to this collaboration, each had and still maintain an active DJ-ing schedule, as well as an impressive discography as producers. Friends for well over 20 years, they decided to work on a track together back in 2015 entitled “Big Mouth” released on Twisted Records to very good success. After that, they knew their collaborative efforts just meshed well and that the end-product was a sound that was uniquely theirs. Their talent was not lost when remix opportunities included Nona Hendryx, Black Stereo Faith, Lenny Kravitz, Neneh Cherry, Kiwi Dreams, Ultra Nate, Stevie Nicks to name a few were presented to them. In October 2018, Lenny Kravitz hit the top of the Dance charts for the first time with “Low”, for which they contributed a house remix in the release. This past NYC World Pride their remix of the newly visited dance music anthem classic “Free” by Ultra Nate was debuted in NYC to rave reviews.

Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.

Records out on King Street Sounds, Nervous Records and SoundGroove Records. — their own list on Resident Advisor

The nights

2026

2025 — 3 nights
2024 — 6 nights
2023 — 2 nights

Their rooms

One tick a night, on the one axis this page has — Aug 2023, where the listings start, to Jan 2027, the last night anybody has announced. The shaded end has not happened yet.

Aug 2023Jan 2027

Once each: Red Eye NY, The Woodshop, Randall's Island, Nectar, The Office and The Keep. Two of the 14 listings never named a room, and are not counted as one.

Who they play with

Counted from the bills themselves, over bills of twelve names or fewer. A pair's count includes a night that is announced and not yet played; where there is one, the row says when.

  • Peter Napoliacross four rooms · Dec 2023 – Apr 20264 nights
  • boraliThe Ornate Studio ×2, Nectar ×1 · Mar 2024 – Nov 20253 nights
  • Eric UmbleThe Chocolate Factory ×2 · Jan 2025 – Sep 20262 nights
  • Riccardo TavarezThe Chocolate Factory ×2 · Jan 2025 – Sep 20262 nights
  • Danny KrivitGood Room ×2 · Feb 2024 – Mar 20262 nights
  • Alain LopezNectar ×1, The Ornate Studio ×1 · Mar 2024 – Nov 20252 nights
  • David Ohana Aviancean unnamed room ×1, Randall's Island ×1 · Jun 2024 – Aug 20242 nights
  • Quentin HarrisGood Room ×1, The Office ×1 · Dec 2023 – Feb 20242 nights

The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography, the labels and the photograph are Resident Advisor's. Nothing on this page was written for it.