DJ Sets
The mixes themselves. Chicago DJs recorded live and on tape, the long blends, the reel-to-reel edits, and the sets that circulated on cassette long before anyone could buy them.
Part of Chicago House
34 moments in this segment.
- - Marshall Jefferson pres. Truth - "Open Our Eyes". Marshall Jefferson’s gospel-house anthem.
- - Marshall Jefferson - "Move Your Body" (1986). Marshall Jefferson’s "Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem)" added piano and song structure, the track that turned house into an anthem.
- - Frankie Knuckles - "Only the Strong Survive". A classic Frankie Knuckles production.
- - Kenny "Jammin" Jason - "Can U Dance". A Hot Mix 5 DJ’s essential jack track.
- - Frankie Knuckles’ Grammy & honours. Frankie Knuckles won a Grammy and, in 2004, Chicago named a stretch of street "Frankie Knuckles Way", recognition for the pioneers at last.
- - Lil Louis - "French Kiss" (1989). Lil Louis’ hypnotic, slowing-and-building "French Kiss" became a global crossover hit and a Chicago house landmark.
- - Tyree Cooper - "Turn Up the Bass". A hip-house crossover from Chicago.
- - Mike Dunn - "Magic Feet". Raw, percussive Chicago jack/acid.
- - Frankie Knuckles - "The Whistle Song" (1991). Frankie Knuckles’ biggest solo hit, a worldwide house standard.
- - Marshall Jefferson - "Mushrooms". With the Salt City Orchestra remix, a UK-loved deep classic.
- - Felix Da Housecat - "Thee Dawn". A second-generation Chicago artist who went global.
- - Green Velvet - "Flash". Curtis Jones as Green Velvet, a darker, wittier Chicago classic.
- - DJ Sneak - "Keep On Groovin’". Filtered disco-house that linked Chicago to the French touch.
- - Derrick Carter - "Dream States". The second-generation Chicago DJ’s deep production.
- - DJ Sneak - "You Can’t Hide From Your Bud". Filtered disco-house that became a global anthem.
- - Green Velvet - "La La Land". Curtis Jones’ witty, dark club anthem.
- - Doc - "Pump Up the Volume: The History of House". The landmark documentary on the birth and rise of house music.
- - Hieroglyphic Being (Jamal Moss). A raw, experimental heir to the Ron Hardy / Trax tradition.
- - Frankie Knuckles - the Godfather of House. A New York transplant, Frankie Knuckles re-edited and extended disco records with a reel-to-reel and a drum machine, forging the blueprint for house. He is forever "the Godfather of House". The subject dates from 1980; this photograph was taken in 2012.
- - Marshall Jefferson. The former post-office worker whose "Move Your Body" gave house its anthem. The subject dates from 1986; this photograph was taken in 2013.
- - The making of "Move Your Body". Marshall Jefferson on creating the house-music anthem and its piano.
- - The sound that conquered the world. From Chicago to New York, the UK, Ibiza and every dancefloor on earth, house became the foundation of modern dance music. When Frankie Knuckles died in 2014, the world mourned the man who gave it house.
- - Derrick Carter on the dance. The Chicago house DJ on why the dancefloor matters.
- - Marshall Jefferson - house set. The originator still working the floor decades on.
- - Lil Louis on Chicago house. Lil Louis reflects on the birth of Chicago house music.
- - Mark Farina - Mushroom Jazz. The Chicago-born DJ’s laid-back, downtempo-house Mushroom Jazz series.
- - Derrick Carter. A second-generation Chicago house hero and one of the most respected DJs in the world. The subject dates from 1995; this photograph was taken in 2023.
- - The Chosen Few set the record straight. Marking forty years since Jesse Saunders' "On and On", the Chosen Few DJs give their own account of how house music actually started, using footage from Maurice Joshua's podcast. A first-hand correction from people who were in the room.
- - Jamie 3:26 and the South Side edit. A mix from Jamie 3:26, a DJ and edit-maker from the Beverly area on Chicago's South Side, recorded for the Jaguar House series. His disco-rooted reworks are one of the clearest present-day continuations of the city's original DJ craft.
- - Mike Dunn plays the classics. An hour of classic and deep Chicago house from Mike Dunn, recorded at Defected's studio. Dunn has been making and playing house records since the city's late-eighties label years and remains one of its most active originals.
- - A cultural revolution, told by the city. WTTW's Chicago Stories documentary traces house from the city's underground venues in the early eighties, made largely by Black and gay artists, to its place on club and festival bills worldwide. A rare account of the music produced by Chicago's own public broadcaster.
- - Marshall Jefferson under the big top. The producer of "Move Your Body" plays a classic Chicago house set on the closing day of Book Club Radio's first festival, recorded 5 October 2025 and posted the following February. Dated to the performance, which the upload states.
- - A Chicago house life, on camera. An independently produced documentary portrait of Chicago house figure Mik'khi'el (Michael Benson), made by Rick "Poi Dog" Pruett. One of the small, locally made oral histories that keep first-generation accounts on record.
- - John Summit headlines his home city. John Summit, a Chicago-born house DJ and producer, headlines Lollapalooza in his home city and releases the set as a film. It marks how far the local sound has travelled into mainstream festival billing.
