Deep House
mid-1980s · Chicago, United States
Larry Heard, working alone in Chicago as Mr. Fingers, slowed house down and folded in jazz chords and soul feeling on Mystery of Love and Can You Feel It, starting deep house's four-decade run (Wikipedia, DJ Mag).
The sound
House's four-on-the-floor drum-machine groove slowed to 110 to 125 BPM, carrying jazz-funk seventh and ninth chords, soft synth pads, muted basslines, and a more melancholy, song-like feel than the rawer house records around it.
Listen for: The chords do the work here. Instead of a tight, repetitive stab, listen for a lush, moving chord progression underneath the same steady kick, plus a bassline that sits back instead of driving hard.
Things to know
Larry Heard, recording as Mr. Fingers, cut the deep house landmark 'Can You Feel It' in 1986 on Trax Records, a double A-side with 'Washing Machine', using only a Roland Juno-60 synth and a TR-909 drum machine.
Beyonce's 2022 track 'Summer Renaissance' interpolates two dance music landmarks at once: Donna Summer's 1977 'I Feel Love' and Larry Heard's 1985 deep house track 'Mystery of Love'.
Key tracks
Can You Feel It by Mr. Fingers · 1986
SBCNCSLY by Black Coffee feat. Sabrina Claudio · 2020
Family tree
- House: Deep house branched off inside Chicago's own house scene rather than arriving from outside. Larry Heard, recording as Mr. Fingers, slowed the groove down and layered jazz chords and soul feeling over it, first on Mystery of Love in 1985 and then on the anthem Can You Feel It in 1986 on Trax Records. Same steady kick, same city, and a much softer, more melancholy sound.
- Afro House / Amapiano: Deep house is one of several ingredients in South African afro house, blended with kwaito, mbaqanga, tribal house, and soulful house, so don't read this line as a single clean lineage. You hear the connection clearest in Black Coffee, whose deep, soulful, minimalist sound came up through underground Johannesburg clubs and carried the style all the way to a Grammy in 2022.