#uschi classen

Black Science Orchestra- New Jersey Deep (1994)

A Song A Day #108 - So many of the DJs and producers of House Music that I love have a deep personal connection with Disco. Ashley Beedle, British Soul Boy and producer extraordinaire is one of them. East Village Loft Society is just one of his many projects and personas. Uschi Classen, a regular collaborator of Ashley’s plays the keyboards here as she does on countless other recordings of his.

This was first released in 1993. I think I picked up my copy in 1995, maybe 1994. This was ground zero for me for my explorations into the disco underground. On the back cover this record is “dedicated to the New York City disco underground.” Below this dedication are listed 11 underground NYC discos and clubs from the seventies and eighties. At the time, I only recognized the Paradise Garage and the Funhouse. 

Even more significant was the blurry tiny black & white photo on the front with the name Walter Gibbons underneath. I was intrigued. Who was he? I later discovered that back in the early- to mid- seventies he was the resident DJ at Galaxy 21, an afterhours club, and one of those discos listed on the back. His technical skills far surpassed any other DJs from that era. Independent of the earliest Hip-Hop DJs like Kool Herc, he discovered the technique of extending the instrumental break of records by mixing the end of the break from one copy into the beginning of the same break on another copy. A section that lasted seconds he now extended to a minute or more in length.

These were the early days of the Web so information like this was not yet available at my fingertips. I acquired my information and knowledge incrementally by reading magazines and books. Even these sources were limited at the time. Now anyone can dig just about as deep as they want into the music and history of the era. They will learn that along with being one of the most important DJs of that or any other era he was also the first DJ to move into the booth and remix and re-edit records for the dancefloor.

This record and this version in particular brings me a great deal of joy. I recall Maya Angelou’s reading of Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton’s inauguration but I don’t recall being struck as strongly by it as I was when I first listened to this mix of I Wanna...Sunshine which samples in full her reading including the applause as she finished. Not only have I listened to this song over and over I have also watched over and over on YouTube Maya Angelou read her poem. I don’t think any work of poetry has ever resonated with me so deeply.

Uschi Classen- Dizzy Heights (2003)