New York & New Jersey House

From a basement track to a Sunday service — house built around the people in the room.

What you're really asking

A voice lifts the room, an organ answers it, and the percussion keeps finding new corners. New York and New Jersey house connects rough independent 12-inches with a deep culture of communal dancing.

There is room for a stripped-down drum track and a full gospel-sized vocal in the same night.

Where it sits

Chicago house arrived in a region with its own disco and club histories, including the Paradise Garage and Newark's Zanzibar. Nu Groove, active from 1988 to 1992, made space for the Burrell brothers and a wide range of local producers.

Strictly Rhythm became another major outlet. Through the 1990s, Shelter and, from 1996, Body & Soul carried different versions of the culture forward.

, Danny Krivit and Joe Claussell drew from a broader musical vocabulary than house alone.

The scene

Who: Rheji and Ronald Burrell, Bobby Konders, Kerri Chandler, Blaze, Masters at Work, Timmy Regisford and Joe Claussell. Labels: Nu Groove, Strictly Rhythm, Nervous and later Spiritual Life and Sacred Rhythm.

Rooms: Zanzibar, Shelter and Body & Soul at Club Vinyl. What: swing, vocal expression, dub space and extended mixes shaped for dancers.

Jersey is part of the story, not a footnote to Manhattan.