Green Velvet has been an essential figure in house music nearly from its inception, shaping the genre’s trajectory with each chapter of his career. The Chicago native, known for his electrifying DJ sets, genre-defining anthems, iconic green hair, and influential record labels, has left an indelible mark on electronic music. It’s this legacy that makes him a fitting recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Contribution award.
Depending on when you first encountered him, Curtis Alan Jones might be known to you as either a cyber-punk provocateur with dark, cheeky house hits or as a mindful advocate for a more spiritual lifestyle. As one of the genre’s earliest pioneers, he founded Cajual and Relief Records, which were instrumental in the Chicago house scene of the early ’90s. These labels played a pivotal role in defining a new wave of stripped-back, gritty sounds, building on the foundation laid by legends like Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, and Phuture’s acid house. This minimalist, punchy aesthetic helped pave the way for future Chicago sounds, including juke and footwork.
Cajual featured Jones’s harder grooves, while Relief became a platform for more stripped-back, track-focused sounds. Legends such as Boo Williams, Glenn Underground, Gemini, and DJ Sneak all released early records on these labels, solidifying their names in the industry. Jones’s own hits, including the generational anthem La La Land, captured the essence of the scene—initially written as a cautionary tale about drug use, it became an ironic club favorite. Other classic tracks, like Answering Machine and Flash, further established his influence, though he’s now reluctant to play some of the earlier tracks due to their explicit content.
Religion has always infused Jones’s work, exemplified by the 1998 classic Preacher Man, which layered pounding drums with a sermon by Baptist preacher Reverend C.L. Franklin. Rather than settling into a heritage role, Green Velvet has kept his sound relevant through collaborations with contemporary artists. He’s teamed up with Dirtybird’s Claude VonStroke as Get Real, and released hits with artists like Sonny Fodera, Eats Everything, HI-LO, and Patrick Topping, with whom he created enduring tracks like Voicemail and Mad Motion.
In 2022, Green Velvet joined fellow Chicago luminaries Honey Dijon and Terry Hunter on Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning album Renaissance, contributing a sample to the track Cozy, which brought a distinct house flavor to the project. True to form, he continues to push boundaries with bold lyrics and themes, as seen in Sheeple, his collaboration with Prok & Fitch, which addresses topics like mind control and government interference.
Green Velvet’s DJ sets remain as sharp and impactful as ever, blending looping house vocals with darker techno beats to create a unique, immersive experience. His La La Land shows continue to pack out venues around the world, from Miami Music Week to Printworks in London. With a career that spans decades and still influences today’s scene, Green Velvet’s contributions to house music are unmatched and continue to shape its evolution.