One of Them Nights with Jerome Derradji

DJ, producer, compiler, and label operator Jerome Derradji started spinning records at the age of 15 and was, at first, inspired most by jazz and soul. During the tail-end of the ’90s, house music caught his ears. In 2000, he moved from his native France to Chicago. Derradji established Still Music in 2004 as an outlet for the music he felt wasn’t getting enough support. Within a few years, Still released singles and albums by producers from all over the planet, though the label had a special affinity for Detroiters with releases by the likes of Rick Wilhite, Delano Smith, and Marcellus Pittman.

As Derradji’s reach extended to reissuing obscure disco, funk, and house, executing his own re-edits, and supporting additional musicians, he set up Past Due and Stilove4music as sublabels. He also took on more ambitious projects, beginning with The American Boogie Down — a two-disc package, released in 2008 on BBE, that featured his DJ mix of material he had reissued, along with a disc of unmixed selections. Extensive later compilations released on Still, including 122 BPM: The Birth of House Music, Kill Yourself Dancing: The Story of Sunset Records Inc., Bang the Box!: The (Lost) Story of AKA Dance Music, and The House That Jackmaster Hater Built, were deep dives into the rich dance music history of his adopted hometown.

In 2015, Jerome Derradji launched “One of them nights.” at The Whistler, a party that mirrors his labels’ philosophy: each month, Jerome and his old school culprit, DJ Pauly, invite some of the best DJs in town and beyond, to deliver a journey into the roots of dance music, on wax only, aimed at their favorite dance floor in Chicago with a little help from their vintage rotary mixer.