Cajmere is the recording name used by Curtis A. Jones, a house producer from Chicago, United States. Born in 1967, he works in Chicago house, dance, techno and electronic music, and is also known by the alias Green Velvet.

Career

Jones begins clubbing and buying records while studying at the University of Illinois. He later earns a degree in chemical engineering and spends several years in graduate study at UC-Berkeley before returning to Chicago in 1991 to record and DJ locally. His first track as Cajmere, Coffee Pot (It’s Time for the Percolator), is released in 1992 on Clubhouse Records.

That same year he works on production for Get With U by Lidell Townsell and teams up with Chicago vocalist Dajae. Their collaboration on Brighter Days becomes a breakout single, reaching number two on the dance charts and giving Cajmere a major international hit. Further Cajmere and Dajae releases include U Got Me Up and Day by Day.

Labels

Jones founds Cajual Records to release Brighter Days, then establishes Relief in 1994. Through Cajual and Relief, he releases records by producers including DJ Sneak, Glenn Underground, Paul Johnson, Gemini, Tim Harper and Boo Williams. The labels become important parts of the Chicago house scene and help support artist-owned imprints in a market where they are less common than in Detroit.

Green Velvet

Jones creates the Green Velvet alias for live gigs and DJ sets, giving the project a more theatrical presentation. Under that name he records club tracks including Flash, The Stalker and Answering Machine, which are among his best-known underground house records from the 1990s. Other Cajmere and Green Velvet tracks mentioned in connection with this period include Preacher Man.

Compilations

During this period, no full-length album appears from either Cajmere or Green Velvet, but compilation releases such as The Many Shades of Cajual, A Taste of Cajual and Relief: The Future Sound of Chicago collect many of his productions.