Deep House

Deep house on vinyl: house with jazz and soul

In short: Deep house emerged in Chicago in the mid-eighties as a calmer, warmer form of house: a steady beat with jazz and soul chords on top, often with vocals. In the nineties Paris producers such as St Germain took up the sound – and it kept meeting jazz again and again. The Vinyl Room currently has 77 deep house records.

What is deep house?

Music for long nights that never rushes: from Paris come St Germain (with Shazz and Derek Bays on “Muse Q The Music”), Etienne De Crécy with “Super Discount” and Dimitri From Paris.

The path to jazz is shown by Belgian pianist Marc Moulin with “Into The Dark”, London’s Tenderlonious and “Everything's Beautiful”, on which Robert Glasper reworks recordings by Miles Davis. Plus Bonobo with “Fragments”.

What to look for

Many deep house tracks came out on 12-inches for DJs, often with several mixes; label, format and country of release help you tell which edition you have – it’s noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

New in

→ House · Future jazz · Downtempo · Electronic on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What is deep house? A calmer form of house from Chicago in the mid-eighties, with jazz and soul chords.

What is the difference from house? Deep house leans more on jazz and soul harmonies and on a calm, warm mood.

What is French Touch? The Paris house scene of the nineties – here, for example, with St Germain, Etienne De Crécy and Dimitri From Paris.

What does deep house have to do with jazz? A lot – here St Germain, Marc Moulin and Tenderlonious show it.