New Jersey sound | |
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Other names | Jersey sound |
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Early 1980s; Newark, New Jersey |
Typical instruments |
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African Americans |
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The New Jersey sound or Jersey sound is a genre of house music originating in Newark, New Jersey, during the early 1980s. It is a type of deep and garage house with an emphasis on soulful vocals influenced by Newark's gospel legacy.
The New Jersey sound originated in the 1980s. Places like Club Zanzibar in Newark, New Jersey, where DJ Tony Humphries began his residency in 1982, helped "spawn the sometimes raw but always soulful, gospel-infused subgenre" of deep house music known as the Jersey sound. [1] [2] Besides the term "New Jersey house", there are alternative names for the genre: "In the UK, for fairly unfathomable reasons, it became known as garage music (named after the Paradise Garage in New York), while in NJ itself they simply called it club (or perhaps more pertinently, the Jersey sound," Mix Mag reported in July 2020. [3] Newark female singers remixed by house music DJ Larry Levan included Gwen Guthrie ("Ain't Nothin' Goin On But The Rent") and Taana Gardner ("Heartbeat").
In 1992, Union County's Aly-Us released their deep-house hit "Follow Me." [4]
Abigail Adams's house-music record label and store, Movin’ Records in Newark's neighbor East Orange, was another contributor to the Jersey Sound. [5]
The Jersey club scene also gave rise to the ball culture scene in Newark hotels and nightclubs. [6] "Queen of House" Crystal Waters and other house luminaries performed on the Newark scene. DJ Kerri Chandler, another Zanzibar DJ, was another pioneer of the "Jersey sound" variety of house music. Jersey artists like Jomanda, with the crossover hit "Got a Love for You," found success in the early 90s house music scene.
Some have said that "when New York went to rap [during this period], Jersey stayed with the club. Because of Zanzibar.” [6]
Annual summer events like the Roselle House Music Festival in Warinanco Park, [7] [8] the Trenton House Music Festival, the Weequahic Park House Music Festival, the Plainfield House Music Festival in Cedar Brook Park and the Lincoln Park Music Festival attract families and house music enthusiasts, also known as "househeads," dedicated to the classic 1980s Jersey sound. [9]
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120-130 beats per minute as a re-emergence of 1970s disco. It originated in the Black queer community in Chicago. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
François Kevorkian, also known by the stage name François K, is a French-born, U.S.-based DJ, producer, remixer and label owner of Armenian descent, who started his career DJing in clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54. Kevorkian has produced and remixed work by a diverse range of musicians including the Smiths, Adam Ant, Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Diana Ross, Gloria Estefan and U2, and is considered one of the forefathers of house music.
Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture.
Lawrence Philpot, known as Larry Levan, was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. He developed a cult following who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass". Influential post-disco DJ François Kevorkian credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. Along with Kevorkian, Levan experimented with drum machines and synthesizers in his productions and live sets, ushering in an electronic, post-disco sound that presaged the ascendence of house music. He DJ'd at Club Zanzibar in the 1980s as well, home to the Jersey Sound brand of deep house or garage house.
The U.S. state of New Jersey is located in the Northeastern United States and is part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard, including his influential track "Can You Feel It".
Francis Warren Nicholls Jr., known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of music that began in Chicago during the early 1980s and subsequently spread worldwide. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often called "The Godfather of House Music".
David Morales is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer.
David Banks, known by his stage name DJ Disciple, is an American DJ, house music producer and author from Brooklyn, New York. For much of his early career, he worked in London and was influential in the rise of UK garage music. Stateside, he was considered a cornerstone of New York City's house music scene. Disciple co-wrote the book The Beat, the Scene, the Sound: A DJ's Journey through the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of House Music in New York City with Henry Kronk.
Marc Allen Scott, also known as Toraino Scott or Tee Scott, was an American DJ and remixer in the disco era working in New York city. He was born in the Bronx.
Kerri Camar Chandler is an American DJ and record producer. He has been dubbed a pioneer within house music, a genre in which he has an "eclectic brand".
Garage house is a dance music style that was developed alongside Chicago house music. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and the 1990s in the United Kingdom, where it developed into UK garage and speed garage.
Justin Berkmann, is a DJ and nightclub owner. He is the second son of Joseph Berkmann and his second wife, Jean Berkmann and younger brother of Marcus Berkmann, an author. They were both educated at Highgate School in North London.
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by jungle, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop and R&B. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM.
Tony Humphries is an American electronic musician and DJ. He was one of the earliest proponents of house music and has been instrumental in spreading the genre on both sides of the Atlantic.
Club Zanzibar was a dance club that opened in 1979 at 430 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. Its presence in Downtown Newark was noted for its influence on house music and garage house genres and scene. Club Zanzibar, along with other gay and straight clubs in the era, was both a straight and LGBT black and Latino nightlife destination.
Jersey club is a style of electronic club music that originated in Newark, New Jersey in the early 2000s. It was pioneered by DJ Tameil and other members of the Brick Bandits crew, who were inspired by Baltimore club's uptempo hybrid of house and hip hop. Other young producers also pushed for the progression of this style of music in the late 2000s.
Aly-Us is a house music group from New Jersey that was active mostly in the early 1990s. Their most famous record was “Follow Me” from 1992.