DJ Pierre is the stage name of Nathaniel Pierre Jones, a Chicago born DJ and performer of house music. He helped to develop the house music subgenre of Acid House as member of Phuture, whose 1987 E.P. Acid Tracks, which has been called the "first Acid House recording."[1] Allmusic.com calls Jones a "crucial DJ and the production wizard partly responsible for the development of Chicago acid-house." Jones' first single "Generate Power," "became standard fare for scores of producers during the next few years."[2] Philippe Renaud, a journalist for La Presse in Montreal, states that the term "Acid house" was "coined in Chicago in 1987 to describe the sound of the Roland 303 bass machine, which made its first significant recording appearance on Phuture's Acid Trax (DJ Pierre) in that year."[1]
Career
Phuture
Jones has recorded under the names DJ Pierre, Phuture, Phuture Phantasy Club, Pierre's Pfantasy Club, and Photon Inc. He formed the group Phuture with his friends Spanky (Earl Smith Jr. –founder/technical producer) and Herb J (Herbert R Jackson Jr. - keyboards). During the mid-1980s, the trio began using the "squelch" sound that became common in Acid House recordings after their initial experiments with a Roland TB-303 bass line synthesizer produced these "squelch" sounds. Living in the Chicago area, they were exposed to many house artists, such as Hot Mix 5 artists (Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Ralphi "The Razz" Rosario, Kenny "Jammin" Jason, Mickey "Mixin" Oliver and Scott "Smokin" Seals) who were producing many tapes and vinyl recordings. Frankie Knuckles was DJing and the Warehouse club (where House Music may have derived its name).
First recordings
Pierre and Spanky had been to Chicago DJ Ron Hardy's club called "Muzic Box." The first Acid House track they recorded was 'Acid Tracks' (renamed by Ron Hardy from its original title 'In Your Mind'), which had a slow burning, bassy, heavy, deep sound, and which was over eleven minutes long. Their first track was put on tape and first played in the Music Box club in the mid-1980s. Ron Hardy played it several times on its first night. It was rerecorded at Trax Records (produced by Marshall Jefferson) and released in 1986.
DJ Pierre went on to record many of the early Acid House tracks on Trax Records under the names Phuture, Phuture Pfantasy Club, Pierre's Pfantasy Club (with Felix Da Housecat), Phortune with songs such as Your Only Friend (Cocaine), The Creator, String Free, Got The Bug, Box Energy, Dream Girl, Mystery Girl, Fantasy Girl, We Are Phuture, Slam and Spank Spank. One of the tracks has a voiceover proclaiming "We are The Creator of Acid Music and we're back." DJ Pierre's track 'Your Only Friend' has an anti-drug message.
Post-Chicago
In 1990, DJ Pierre moved away from Chicago, where the House Music scene was slowing down and joined Strictly Rhythm records, where he was also briefly the A&R manager. One of the problems that DJ Pierre and other Chicago House music artists faced was that they did not usually own their own copyrights; the music they produced was sometimes exported and licensed overseas, and they were not able to share in these revenues. Other hits he released since leaving Chicago include Generate Power by Photon Inc, Follow Me by Aly Us, and The Horn Song (featuring Barbara Tucker). He is still DJing and producing; on January 14, 2007 he appeared on Pete Tong's Essential Mix on British BBC Radio 1.
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