Green Velvet

Initially conceived by house mainstay Curtis Jones—better known as Cajmere—Green Velvet served as a vehicle for his instrumental productions and frequent club appearances, yet it soon eclipsed its creator through the enduring club traction of “Preacher Man,” “Answering Machine,” and “The Stalker.” These tracks combined minimal vocal hooks with playful wit to deliver irresistibly buoyant dance-floor moments. Having already propelled the 1990s Chicago house resurgence via his Cajual Records imprint, Jones scored a major breakthrough in 1993 when the Cajmere cut “Brighter Days,” featuring vocals by Dajae, became a substantial hit. Later the same year he launched the Relief subsidiary, an outlet devoted chiefly to instrumental material from himself and fellow producers.

Alongside 12-inches from DJ Sneak, Gemini, and Paul Johnson, many of Relief’s earliest releases spotlighted Green Velvet, beginning with the label’s debut single “Preacher Man” and continuing through “Flash”—also issued on the U.K. label Open—“The Stalker,” and the 1997 comedy-tinged “Answering Machine.” Jones gradually expanded his Green Velvet performances beyond solo DJ sets into quasi-live presentations while issuing his debut album in 1999. The following year F-111 collected twelve prior club favorites on a self-titled compilation. His second proper studio album, Whatever, arrived on Relief in 2001 and featured the memorably eccentric single “La La Land.” The third Green Velvet full-length, Walk in Love, emerged in 2005 as Jones maintained a steady flow of additional 12-inches and an expanding roster of collaborations under his various guises. Unshakable, issued in 2013, paired him with a different vocalist on each track. Two years later he joined forces with Carl Craig for the Relief album Unity.