Chicago Community Loan Fund 30th Anniversary Dance Mix

The Peacemaker

I put together a mix with select tracks that you've heard me play on my Twitch show over the past few months. Enjoy!

The Review - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Thank You - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Gratitude - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Mankind - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

A Helping Hand - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

From The Vault: A Bit Harder - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins (circa 2003)

From The Vault: Joy - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins  (circa 2004)

Southside Nights

We Are One

Skyline  (The Rooftop Demo) - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Big thanks to DJ TSmooth for letting me open this hot mix with his elegant dance remix of Luther's "A House is Not a Home"!

The Reunion (In the Park) - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Summer In The Chi - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Fearless - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Southside Suite - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Splash Thursday-1

"Power of His Love" - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

"Chapter & Verse" - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Icebreaker (Winter 2018)

"Your Healer" - A Live Mix by DJ Carl Jenkins

The Believer - A Hotmix from DJ Carl Jenkins

Destination: Love - A Hotmix from DJ Carl Jenkins

Restore - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

The Antidote - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

The Survival - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Dancer - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Days Like This - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Constellations (Blue Moon Nights) - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Winning - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

House & Happiness - A Hotmix by DJ Carl Jenkins

Born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, Carl considers himself lucky to have come of age during the formative years of ‘this thing we call house’ in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.  During that time, he was introduced to the power of dance music by the pioneering DJ collective Chosen Few DJs, which includes his childhood friend from elementary and high school, DJ Alan King.  Every school day, he and his classmates listened to music played on Alan’s ‘boom box’ in the school cafeteria and regularly attended parties featuring the Chosen Few (whose other original members are Wayne Williams, Tony Hatchett and Jesse Saunders, and now include Terry Hunter, Andre Hatchett, and Mike Dunn).   This was supplemented by listening to the short-lived Disco DAI radio broadcast and Herb Kent’s Punk Out weeknight radio show. Eventually, Carl’s obsession with the art form and the generosity of his parents landed him two belt-drive Technics turntables and a mixer.

DJ Carl Jenkins immediately joined the many Chicago teens clamoring to buy records and play music for kids (and a few adults) with an insatiable appetite for dance music that could not yet be consistently found on mainstream radio.  This joy of sharing music continued on through the early ‘80s during his college years at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. 

After graduating from college, the realities of adulthood (getting a job, paying bills and establishing a career) quickly pushed aside any time and money for deejaying…a prioritization that would continue through to the early 21st century.  During this time, Carl got his fix of soulful dance music by listening to his own record collection, recordings of old WBMX mixes, attending the occasional ‘old school’ dance party, and by attending the modest, but growing, Chosen Few Reunion picnic held behind the Museum of Science & Industry every summer (the picnic is now a premier event, attracting over 40,000 house heads from around the globe).

By the early 2000's, an explosion of new music being churned out by well-established and new producers, along with big-tent parties by the late Frankie Knuckles, caught Carl's attention.  Ultimately, the return of DJ Alan King to the house music scene served as a final motivation for Carl to begin collecting music and dust off his own skills. 

All mixes were recorded live in the home studio using two Pioneer CDJ 100s, or CDJ 850s, and a Pioneer DJM 600.  No digital computer editing or compression.

Popular tracks by THE HEAT XCHANGE with DJ Carl Jenkins