Rafe Gomez

In the late 1990s through early 2000s, Gomez had been working as a producer of library music for film and television and also a jazz/groove club DJ in northern New Jersey. In 2002, Gomez approached Sirius Satellite Radio with the idea of hosting, performing, and producing a weekend jazz mix show. Sirius hired Gomez to create the show, which was named “In The Mix” and featured six hours of Saturday evening programming on Sirius’ Planet Jazz channel.[1]

Gomez’s mixes incorporated both old school and contemporary jazz and groove-oriented tracks. His mixing style, which he developed as a club DJ in Jersey City, NJ, didn’t utilize quick cuts or scratching: he let the songs play for almost their entire length, and then beat-matched the gaps, breaks, or fades with the intros of his next chosen selections that had the same beats-per-minute count. This approach to the presentation of jazz was heavily influenced by the open, programming-driven spinning styles of such New York DJ’s as Ted Currier (WBLS, The Funhouse), Jonathan Fearing (WBLS), and Larry Levan (The Paradise Garage).[2]

Gomez’s “In The Mix” began generating coverage on jazz blogs and websites, including AllAboutJazz.com. His mixes appeared on groove-oriented DJ sites, including Soulstrut.com, MrSoulSatisfaction.com, and the Netherlands-based jazz-funk site Royalgroove.com.

His work attracted the attention of WQCD-FM/CD101.9 in New York.[3] Executives at CD101.9 were seeking ways to attract younger listeners to the station. They arranged for Gomez to have a show syndicated to smooth jazz stations in major American markets, and in September 2003, Gomez’s program – “The Groove Boutique” – aired for two hours on Saturday evenings.[4] “The Groove Boutique” began to generate media coverage for Gomez (and CD101.9), and became a top rated Saturday night program (8pm-midnight) in the New York market.[5]

Gomez compiled and created the first continuous mix jazz CD in 2003 with the release “Smooth Grooves 4”, on Higher Octave Records (“A happy, rhythm-intensive shock… a cutting edge, clubland vibe… a whole new sonic level… Gomez keeps the grooves hopping.” – Allmusic[6]). The album featured a merge of contemporary jazz and world music selections by such artists as Cooly’s Hot Box, Four80East, Acoustic Alchemy, Tom Scott, Les Nubians, and Sacred Spirit.

In 2004, Gomez compiled and mixed “Groove Boutique:Volume One” on Tommy Boy Records. The CD included deep groove jazzy funk by such artists as Jimjam, Clan Greco, Ramsey Lewis, Slide Five, Soulive, Copa 7, The Headhunters, and range Factory.

The album also included the nu bossa track “Icy”, which Gomez co-produced with David Baron at Edison Studios in New York (“A treat.” – Allmusic;[7] “A funky, Latin-flavored little number.” – CD Universe;[8] “Amazing.” - Amazon[9]). “Icy” was a top 10 requested hit on smooth jazz radio stations across the U.S.[10]

In 2005, Gomez returned to Edison Studios with Baron to create a jazz remix of Smokey Robinson’s 1975 soul hit “Quiet Storm” for the album Motown Remixed. Gomez and Baron maintained the song’s original vocal and flute tracks and floated them over a new production that featured a four-piece jazz combo, which included drummer Jojo Mayer and vibraphonist Roy Ayers (“Never sounded better.” – The Couch Sessions;[11] “Lush, subtle.” – Billboard;[12] “Gomez and Baron absolutely FREAKED this song.” – Image Eye Nation[13]) ; "An unheralded gem." - Roy Ayers Project.[14] The Groove Boutique remix of “Quiet Storm” became an international club hit and a favorite of British DJ Gilles Peterson.[15]

In 2005 and 2006, Gomez hosted a one-hour program on QVC called “The Groove Boutique”, where he sold jazz and groove CDs and welcomed live guest performances from Marcus Johnson, Jason Miles, Steve Oliver, and Bobby Caldwell.[16]

Gomez performed live at jazz festivals, lounges, clubs, cruises, and food/wine events across the United States from 2004 through the end of 2008.[17] Gomez’s usage of the Yamaha DD65 Digital Percussion Kit grew out a desire to present more of a show for his club and festival audiences. Since he wasn’t scratching, he felt that playing the DD65 would not only be entertaining for clubgoers, it would also allow him to create live percussion overdubs on-the-fly throughout his sets.[18]

Gomez’s most recent DJ project is Rockmixx, which is billed as “the world’s first party rock mash-up feature”.[19] On Rockmixx, Gomez takes energetic, uptempo classic rock hits by such artists as Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Queen, and Guns N' Roses and matches them by key and beats-per-minute with other classic rock hits.[20] He merges the tracks using a drop-in style that’s reminiscent of the rhythmic sound collages which were pioneered by Double Dee and Steinski and MARRS in the 1980s.