JOVONN Schallplatten & CDs

Review: There is no questioning Jovonn's deep house credentials. Smooth groves have long since oozed out of the American master and now comes another flow of goodness on the Next Moon label's first foray into vinyl. 'Back In The Dark' has it all - the spoken word consciousness, the glowing jazz chords and the cuddly beats. 'Moov' Sphere' gets more dark with bleeping synth sequences and what sound like wind sounds all darting about the mix and then 'Keep On Dancin'' lands nice and heavy of dusty drums with swinging hits and Roy Ayres-style melodic goodness. Last of all is the most raw and evocative of the lot with a spoken word sermon making 'Jessie's Speech' really cut through.

Review: Long time deep house don Jovonn is back with more of his sophisticated sounds, this time on the Body N Deep label in the Netherlands. 'Hightower' opens proceedings with some old school drum swing and vamping chord stabs. Add in some raw claps and you have a timeless jam. 'Seductive Dance' is just that - another irresistible house sound with steamy vocals and a 90s baseline to get you moving and grooving. 'Sunburst' shuts down with rolling percussion and smart FX under an atmospheric vocal. Faultless as ever.

Review: Nu Groove is of course one of the foundational labels when it comes to house music. From the late 80s and through the 90s, the New York imprint put out some of the genre's most definitive deeper sounds. Carrying the torch for that sort of quality today is Jovonn who never fails to cook up classy grooves. Here we're treated to 'The Piano Fix' which plays with a lead piano line throughout and layers up subtle acid over the simple but effective drums. A Return version is more funky and then 'Let Me Tell You Somethin' is more playful house on the flip. 'Drop That Traxx' shuts down with laidback house perfection.

Review: For an all too brief period between 1991 and 1994, Jovonn's Brooklyn-based Goldtones imprint was a shining light for a particularly positive brand of underground US house. Musically expansive but focused on the dancefloor, many of the label's releases occupied the middle ground between Nu Groove style New York deep house (think Bobby Konders and the Burrell Brothers, in particular) and the kind of shuffling, organ and synth vibraphone-laden material popular with acolytes of New Jersey legend Tony Humphries. This surprise retrospective on Clone Classic Cuts showcases many of Jovonn's productions for the imprint, joining the dots between the supple grooves and heady melodies of "Flutes (185th Street Mix)", and the intense percussion and tribal yelps of "Back To House (Jovonn's Classic Goldhouse Mix)".