Moodymann
Encyclopedia
Moodymann also known as Kenny Dixon Jr or KDJ for short, is a Techno/House
musician based in Detroit, Michigan
.
He creates a thoroughly hybrid form of techno/house dance music
, jazz
, soul
, disco
and funk
via his innovative use of reworked riffs, samples (including old movie soundtrack samples mainly culled from the old blaxploitation
and b-movie
genres), and grooves taken from Detroit's historically influential jazz
, R&B, soul, funk, and disco scene.
He is outspoken on the current state of dance music, decrying the lack of black techno and the white domination of the genre.
His sets often feature him playing hidden from the crowd, the dj booth covered in white sheets.
He is also known to stop records while they are playing to talk to the crowd. In many of his gigs he would stop the music, scratch the vinyl on the decks then lift the record and speak to the crowd informing them how his women prefer 12".
Moodymann is a strong supporter of the Vinyl Preservation Society.
An outspoken voice in the normally non-confrontational world of electronic dance music, Moodymann (Kenny Dixon Jr.) is committed to keeping a distinctly black imprint on techno and house.
Moodymann worked at several Detroit record stores in the mid-nineties including a store owned by producer Blake Baxter. During the mid-nineties Kenny was also the resident DJ at the Detroit based Outcast Motorcycle Club. At that time he was known as "House". After his first several releases on Planet E Records Kenny became quite popular in France and from there his popularity grew.
Moodymann sound is a hybrid form of techno/house dance music arrived at via innovative use of reworked riffs, samples and grooves. While he may frustrate people with his refusal to be interviewed and insistence on reminding people of the genre's origins, the soulfulness of his output is unquestioned. Utilizing classic soul and jazz samples, low-slung bass lines and an approach to drum programming that is diametrically opposed to the tendency to push the tempo faster and faster, he has achieved classic status thanks to gems like "Sunday Morning", "Shades of Jae", and his remix of Innerzone Orchestra's "People Make the World Go Round". Following years of 12" only releases, he compiled his best work on "Silentintroduction", one of the most celebrated albums of the late 90s.
Kenny Dixon, Jr.'s outspoken views on the state of black techno and his aversion to publicity put him in a league occupied by few Detroit producers other than Underground Resistance supremo "Mad" Mike Banks, though his tech-house productions as Moodymann are soulful in a league few could expect. Dixon began producing early in the '90s, and inaugurated his own KDJ Records in 1994 with the Moody Trax EP. Following singles like "The Day We Lost the Soul" and "I Can't Kick This Feelin When It Hits" proved one of the best fusers of short, soulful disco samples to the harder minimalist Detroit techno. Further singles for After Midnight, Music Is..., and Carl Craig's Planet E Records (including the brilliant Dem Young Sconies EP) solidified Dixon's place in Detroit techno
, though his stance on promotion remained firm. Much of his KDJ output appeared on 1997's A Silent Introduction, while the following year's Mahogany Brown brought much new material. Forevernevermore, released in 2000, collected more of his KDJ material and added several new tracks as well. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
musician based in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
He creates a thoroughly hybrid form of techno/house dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
via his innovative use of reworked riffs, samples (including old movie soundtrack samples mainly culled from the old blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
and b-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
genres), and grooves taken from Detroit's historically influential jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, R&B, soul, funk, and disco scene.
He is outspoken on the current state of dance music, decrying the lack of black techno and the white domination of the genre.
His sets often feature him playing hidden from the crowd, the dj booth covered in white sheets.
He is also known to stop records while they are playing to talk to the crowd. In many of his gigs he would stop the music, scratch the vinyl on the decks then lift the record and speak to the crowd informing them how his women prefer 12".
Moodymann is a strong supporter of the Vinyl Preservation Society.
An outspoken voice in the normally non-confrontational world of electronic dance music, Moodymann (Kenny Dixon Jr.) is committed to keeping a distinctly black imprint on techno and house.
Moodymann worked at several Detroit record stores in the mid-nineties including a store owned by producer Blake Baxter. During the mid-nineties Kenny was also the resident DJ at the Detroit based Outcast Motorcycle Club. At that time he was known as "House". After his first several releases on Planet E Records Kenny became quite popular in France and from there his popularity grew.
Moodymann sound is a hybrid form of techno/house dance music arrived at via innovative use of reworked riffs, samples and grooves. While he may frustrate people with his refusal to be interviewed and insistence on reminding people of the genre's origins, the soulfulness of his output is unquestioned. Utilizing classic soul and jazz samples, low-slung bass lines and an approach to drum programming that is diametrically opposed to the tendency to push the tempo faster and faster, he has achieved classic status thanks to gems like "Sunday Morning", "Shades of Jae", and his remix of Innerzone Orchestra's "People Make the World Go Round". Following years of 12" only releases, he compiled his best work on "Silentintroduction", one of the most celebrated albums of the late 90s.
Kenny Dixon, Jr.'s outspoken views on the state of black techno and his aversion to publicity put him in a league occupied by few Detroit producers other than Underground Resistance supremo "Mad" Mike Banks, though his tech-house productions as Moodymann are soulful in a league few could expect. Dixon began producing early in the '90s, and inaugurated his own KDJ Records in 1994 with the Moody Trax EP. Following singles like "The Day We Lost the Soul" and "I Can't Kick This Feelin When It Hits" proved one of the best fusers of short, soulful disco samples to the harder minimalist Detroit techno. Further singles for After Midnight, Music Is..., and Carl Craig's Planet E Records (including the brilliant Dem Young Sconies EP) solidified Dixon's place in Detroit techno
Detroit techno
Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in the 1980s. Detroit, Michigan has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...
, though his stance on promotion remained firm. Much of his KDJ output appeared on 1997's A Silent Introduction, while the following year's Mahogany Brown brought much new material. Forevernevermore, released in 2000, collected more of his KDJ material and added several new tracks as well. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Quotes
"I don’t make music for the masses to dance to, I make music for the small majority that listens." Kenny Dixon Jr. aka MoodymannStudio Albums
- 1997: Silent Introduction
- 1998: Mahogany Brown
- 2000: Forevernevermore
- 2003: Silence in the Secret Garden
- 2004: Black Mahogani
- 2004: Black Mahogani II
- 2008: Det.riot '67
- 2009: Anotha Black Sunday
Singles & EPs
- 1994: I Like It / Emotional Content - KDJ
- 1995: Moodymann / Theo Parrish - Small Black Church - KDJ
- 1995: Long Hot Sex Nights / The Dancer - KDJ
- 1995: The Day We Lost The Soul - KDJ
- 1996: The Dancer - After Midnight
- 1996: Don't Be Misled! - KDJ
- 1996: I Can't Kick This Feelin When It Hits / Music People – KDJ
- 1997: In Loving Memory - KDJ
- 1997: Dem Young Sconies / Bosconi - Planet E CommunicationsPlanet E CommunicationsPlanet E Communications is an independent electronic music recording label that started in 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. The label is the brainchild of DJ/Producer Carl Craig. Evolving from Craig’s desire to have creative independence from the major label industry, Planet E would manage, in a short...
- 1997: Silent Introduction (12") - Planet E CommunicationsPlanet E CommunicationsPlanet E Communications is an independent electronic music recording label that started in 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. The label is the brainchild of DJ/Producer Carl Craig. Evolving from Craig’s desire to have creative independence from the major label industry, Planet E would manage, in a short...
- 1997: J.A.N. (12", W/Lbl, Promo) - KDJ
- 1997: Music Is ... Moodymann (12") - Music Is...
- 1997: Joy Pt. II (12") - KDJ
- 1997: Amerika (12") - KDJ
- 1998: Forevernevermore - KDJ
- 1998: Just Anotha Black Sunday Morning With Grandma (12", Promo) - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 1998: Sunday Morning / Track Four (12") - Planet E CommunicationsPlanet E CommunicationsPlanet E Communications is an independent electronic music recording label that started in 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. The label is the brainchild of DJ/Producer Carl Craig. Evolving from Craig’s desire to have creative independence from the major label industry, Planet E would manage, in a short...
- 1998: Black Mahogany (12") - KDJ
- 1999: Shades Of Jae - KDJ
- 1999: The Thief That Stole My Sad Days ... Ya Blessin' Me - KDJ
- 2000: Don't You Want My Love - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2000: Deleted Rehearsals - KDJ
- 2000: Analog: Live - KDJ
- 2001: The Telephone EP - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2001: J.A.N. - KDJ
- 2001: Nmywagon (12") - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2003: Sweet Yesterday - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2003: Shattered Dreams - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2003: Silence In The Secret Garden (12") - Peacefrog RecordsPeacefrog RecordsPeacefrog Records are an independent record label based in London, United Kingdom. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González and Nouvelle Vague. Started by Pete Hutchison and Paul Ballard in...
- 2004: Untitled (12", S/Sided) - KDJ
- 2005: Ampapella (12", W/Lbl) - KDJ
- 2005: How Sweed It Is (12") - KDJ
- 2007: I'd Rather Be Lonely (12", S/Sided) - KDJ
- 2007: Technologystolemyvinyle (12", S/Sided) - KDJ
- 2010: Ol' Dirty Vinyl - KDJ
- 2011: Freeki Mutha F cker (All I Need Is U) - KDJ
External links
- Mahogani Music
- Red Bull Music Academy
- Resident Advisor
- Moodymann Discography at Discogs.
- Moodymann Discography at Twoplayer.