New Jersey Gospel House

Where it came from

Newark has churches on nearly every block, and the singers who filled Club Zanzibar on a Friday night had been singing in them since childhood. That is the single fact that explains the New Jersey sound.

Tony Humphries held the residency and also a radio show on Kiss FM, which meant his mixes reached far beyond the club. Where Chicago used vocals as raw shouts and New York used them as texture, Jersey put a church-trained lead singer at the very front of the mix and built the record to support her. Adeva, Jomanda, Blaze and Ten City all came out of this.

When British listeners started calling house music 'garage' in the early nineties, this - not the Paradise Garage - was mostly what they meant.

How it works musically

Harder underneath than the New York records and more anthemic on top. Big layered claps, a rolling organ bass, and gospel harmony.

The bass is the giveaway: both oscillators square, giving the hollow woody tone of a DX7 or Korg M1 organ patch rather than an analogue filter sweep. Fast decay and low sustain so the line rolls continuously.

Harmony moves the way church music moves. The turnaround here is a genuine ii-V-I: Abmaj9 to G7sus to G7 resolving to Cm9, with the suspension holding before it drops to the dominant. That resolution is the whole emotional mechanism of the style.

Play the chords staccato and let the release ring. Long held pads belong to the Chicago deep sound, not to this.