If the proper of the time is to go on and on, the one of the souvenirs is to survive. At least, the outstanding ones that remain kept alive throughout the years. More than a decade has already gone since the shutting of the Zanzibar. A place that would be the biggest club ever in New Jersey, following the footsteps of the Loft and the Paradise Garage in their contribution to deliver some of the key pages in the history of nightclubbing. The first aforementioned had David Mancuso and the second, Larry Levan. The third's man would be Tony Humphries…

More than 20 years going from club / recording studio to another, forever linked with the defunct Zanzibar, his uncomparable approach and numerous mixes would make Tony Humphries being considered as the garage mastermind. Past, present and future…

An issue of the transient BMG Dance International Video Mag at the beginiing of the 90's displayed a short feature of Club Zanzibar meanwhile using a part of Underground Solution's classic as aural illustration.

That was sometime in November before the closing of the club. I think it's the very last hit we've had there…

This leads us to the early years of Strictly Rhythm.

I've just signed a distribution deal with them for my Yellorange label. They've adopted a politic which is quite close to the majors. Guess they might do as well as labels like Prelude and Salsoul back in the days. Got to understand that they intend to increase the artist development matter. They've got the finances, the know how and all the connections to achieve this. What they need now are 5 to 6 major artists to complete the whole.

Henry Street label boss Johnny D has recently said that he did quite understand the lack of airing of house music on US radio stations due to the fact that people are more reactive to urban music (hip hop and R&B)…

Lets's talk frankly. Record industry execs are highly paid and I don't see why they would take any risk to reverse their situation while investing into things that would need substantial efforts to be developped. R&B, rock, classical music are sources of stable incomings, so why look somewhere else ?

The only possibility of change could be provided with the arrival of a new generation (ourselves !) getting these jobs… And I guess we could achieve this progressively coz' we've got the background. And who ever knows if we won't do it within a 4 to 5 year period time. We can't beat them and they can't beat us neither, I mean right now. On the other hand, we tend to forget there may be solely 1% of us caring about the vibes, when the majority come to the clubs for simply for socializing, have a drink and party. In other words, the house scene would get the exposure that it'll be able to generate on its own.

Are the things different in UK ?

Absolutely ! Because of people being much more open-minded. Maybe even too much sometimes, I would say, as going so quickly from a change to another the way they doesn't end up being more efficient at the end of the day. It's as if your mom was forbidding you to have sweets. It would be very restrictive, but what about someone offering some 30 of them that you would eat in a raw ? Well, I guess you'd become sick !

So what about this impressive amount of weekly releases ? Sign of the times ?

I've never seen the things like this despite my current position which allows me to have more infos on the subject than anyone else. It was already like this in the 60's/70's. At the time, you and I were simply people who used to listen to go to clubs and listen to radio stations without being in the business. We were not aware of the categorizations at the time nor of the budgets that you would need to have to issue a record. Nothing's really changed, we was just taking in terms of R&B, soul, funk and jazz at the time…

You appear on another issue of that Dance International Video Magazine series, saying that New jersey sound could well like the Motown sound of the 90's…

Yes. There was Ceybil, Charvoni and D'Borah… I was quite optimistic at the time. I'm not looking for any excuse for what happened later on, but there was like an extraordinary atmosphere at those times preceeding the closing of Zanzibar. I felt like big things were going on. I had my radio show on Kiss, we used to gather regularly at Movin' Records. We had artist performances every week and some big name every fortnight. No one ever does this nowadays. So needless that the shutting of the club has been felt like a prejudice. Then we've seen the first European DJ's being booked over there an dit has marked the beginning of the end for us.

Could Jersey sound's destiny have been different with today's structures like Strictly, Nervous or Northcott ?

Beware of not considering the Jersey sound as if it was an entitiy. It was more of an agregation of various sounds rather than a concept on its whole. Say the contrary would be a big mistake and that's about the same regarding garage. Garage has never been a form of music. It's nothing but a period which has been embodied by a certain amount of songs that Larry Levan used to play at the Paradise Garage. It could have been anything !

When we came to the New Music Seminar a few years ago, we've been offered to introduce artists hailing from New Jersey rather than the usual Ray Charles, Madonna or Chaka Khan. This is how have started talking about the Jersey sound. We came along with nine artists on which six were coming from NJ and the press would think that we were trying to create a new genre. Could have been the same things with people from London ! We didn't expect such a reaction.

It would be more fair to use this NJ sound term for evoking the most soulful side of the house then…

Exactly. When talking about garage, people to think about those 45 years old singers dropping some soulful incantations and it's restrictive. Paradise Garage used to be a gay and white club. You could hear almost anything there and we can say that Zanzibar has been like its follow up, although the crowd was different. First, bacause of the period that was not the same anymore, but also because of the situation of the club which was located in a mostly Black living area. This said, it wouldn't prevent us from having a really mixed crowd at the end of the day. Diversity and continuous renewal are the basic elements of success. We've done this for six years having 4,000 people every week-end. White, Black, Gay… It was the place to be whoever you was. A paradise under no banner. So how could you imagine seing me playing the same record from midnight to noon ?

I guess your view of the things has widely been influenced by this spiritual upbringing that you've got at Church like most of Afro-American people.

This is what makes us so unique. I'm not saying that you don't like garage in Europe, but you've got some of those things that we simply wouldn't undertand… We as kids go to Church every Sunday til the age of 16 and gospel is a part of us which would follow us til we die as well as those jazz structures that come with. Travelling abroad has allowed me to see how people may react differently from a place to another. Asky for instance what a song like "Let No Man Put Asunder" by First Choice represent to some US nightclubber or someone who was around when this song has been released. They would tell you that it's the story of a woman saying to her man that she doesn't see their love story coming to an end when mot of Europeans would tell you that they've heard about it because it's been sampled ! They might remember a bass line or a few parts of it, but what about its original spirit ?

You've had some reaction against speed garage although you play some. So what's your position about it ?

This is some European thing. I may play a speed garage 12" coz' I know you're dig its high frequencies for instance. In America, it's totally diferent. This is not our thing. The competition is so big, we have to fight for getting out the best of ourselves, meanwhile everything is based on the current hype in Europe.

Would Europeans tend to be considered as sort of caricatures ?

This is not the point. We'd rather go for uptempos in Europe when we're looking for details that would help us to make the difference in terms of arrangements.

This said, the tempos have much slowed down throughout the years in America…

True ! We've had the big bands in the 50's, Motown in the 60's, then the 70's have celebrated a global liberalization with the arrival of the disco era and the things have started speeping up. We would release a disco tune the way we're doing a house one today. Then the 80's and the 90's would follow and everything has gone the other way down, as opposed to Europe.

Your first contact with music ?

Nothing really original. I was the only child in the family and when when my mom would go out for working, i was left alone in the house. I started watching TV then listening to the records of her collection… The Drifters amongst others. I would got out a few years later and buy my first 45 then serached for always more…

This is what led you becoming a DJ…

Yes, even though there were a few musicians in my family. Once you've faced the crowd, should you be a singer, a musician or a DJ, it becomes like a sort of drug that follow you til the end of your life. It think i twas like an intimate party in Brooklyn and when you feel the creations of the crowd listening to the music that YOU play you get like an inner impression of power. You facing the crowd, I have always loved this kind of situation and whenever you achieve to move it, it's an accomplishment.

Have you ever thought about resigning ?

Almost everyday. I wouldn't like giving the impression of someone going backwards. I really thought about going out of this 5 years ago as it became clear in my mind that the radios didn't give a sh.. about this music. I was keepoin' on having my show and soon started to feel like isolated. You generally get your strenghth from your environment but what about when you feel like you ain't got anymore of it ? I've got everything out of me to play DAT's and acetates, launch some new night or give my hand to a club having hard times in my will to make this music known by the crowd.

… Destroying yourself ?

No, even though 91/92 has probably be the worst period of my life. I had radio and two 12 hours DJ set at Zanzibar during the week-ends, then the remixes on the following Monday. That was too mucha t the same time and I've said to myself : 'business was already around before you as it'll be after…

What do you think about the Garage City nights and their DJ's/promoters in London ?

Judging by the music they play here and on the radio + their playlists, I would say that I feel 90% connected with them. Rhis said, don't forget that I'm coming from an area where, should we like a tune – let's say from Talking Heads for instance - we would play it whatever it was. I've rarely know such a spontaneity anywhere else, so that playing Ten City's music alike all night long, no way ! You have to feature music with different backgrounds on your sets. This is what makes the difference and creates relief.

So DJ's have to express their roots and culture in order to avoid some global standardization…

Luckily enough, we've been exposed to many different forms of music in NY while in front of a cosmopolitan crowd, this helping us to benefit from such a variety of ways to express ourselves. Alas, things have slightly changed nowadays as DJ's who came to specialize themselves, aren't anymore opened to other genres.

A sign of laziness ?

I don't know. One may think that they've remained stucked to their one worlds despite the fact that they're travelling more & more. This said, every crowd ain't got the same tastes and the DJ's gonna have to guess what they are within a short time and subsequently work from that. Suppose I would see a group of Japanese people, then I don't see why I wouldn't play some music supposed to please them, even though a big majority of the crowd wouldn't understand the lyrics. Luckily enough, we understand English. This said, I leave you make your own idea of the way you could react in front of a foreign DJ playing some Japanese music for 8 hours !!!

Could this be one of the reasons explaining the current success of instrumentals ?

Possibly. We also tend to forget that a part of the crowd is reactive to emotions and that the attitudes vary from a place to another. You may see places where people are supposed to hide what they feel behind a strict attitude which to me is against nature and frustrating.

But haven't we entered the virtual communication era since ?

At least, should we soon be able adding images to words via videotel. I guess I'm more appreciated by the women, due to the fact that I don't hesitate to put emotion in my sets, while displaying chord parts, bridges and create variationqs in terms of mood. If ever you add a message to this then it's more powerful. This said, many people are afraid to show who they are. I have been able to notice a strong machist attitude coming out of the men some 15 years ago while trying to give the hardest image of them as possible. The fact they would go to a club will depend on the answers to the following question : Does the DJ mix over the beats ? Does he play hard tracks ? Is the sound system big enough ? Then once in the club, they would go to the bar and get themselves a drink and it's at this precise moment that they would start having a look at the girls It's quite different for the latest. They like being able to express themselves in approrpiate atmospheres, with a certain amount of intimacy and this is something that you have also to consider as a DJ.

A matter of balance…

In every compartment. Not from a track to another but as a whole, playing what would please everyone. It's not easy. You'll have the ones asking for classics, the others searching for new stuff if not music that they would hear on the radio, so that when I'm pleasing a category, another one may get frustrated and that's the way it definitely goes in terms of entertainment

Excerpts from an interview released in Feb. 1998  

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