Deep house music
Related: deep - house music
"Strictly speaking, 'Deep House' is the name give to classic house from Chicago and New York in the same vein as Frankie Knuckles' 1987 LP 'Deep House' from which the name originates. Though I am undoubtedly venturing into highly controversial waters, I will venture to say that currently, deep house has meaning mostly as a counterpoint to more aggressive house sub-genres like hard house. As a name referring to a stand-alone genre, I therefore find 'Deep House' quite meaningless."
However, an exception can be made for Larry Heard who is credited with creating the blueprint for deep house. Beginning with a spacey, downtempo piece of synth heaven called "Mysteries of Love" as Mr. Fingers in 1985, Larry Heard has set the standard that many deep house producers follow to this day. The Larry Heard musical library consists of a combination of sparsely produced but lush instrumentals and emotionally powerful vocals. [Sept 2006]
Definition
Deep house is a style of house music. It is loosely defined by the following characteristics that distinguish it from most other forms of house music:
- relatively slow tempo (110-125 bpm);
- de-emphasized percussion, including:
- simpler drum machine programming;
- gentle transitions and fewer "build-ups";
- less "thumpy" bass drum sound;
- less pronounced hi-hats on the off-beat;
- sustained chords or other tonal elements that span multiple bars;
- increased use of reverb, delay, and filter effects;
- a featured solo R&B vocalist, often male, exhibiting soul, jazz, and/or gospel influences;
- jazz influences or samples in the instrumentation.
Not all of these need to be present or fully satisfied in order for house music to be called "deep house"; fans of the style typically just identify it by its subjective "feel" rather than by the presence or absence of specific elements.
The term "deep house" first appeared in the music press in the late 1980s, usually in reference to the music of Larry Heard. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_house [Jun 2005]
see also: deep house music - house music - 1980s - Larry Heard