THE DJ HANGOUT / NEW JERSEY HOUSE HISTORY
Tony Humphries
The Newark Dance Floor That Taught the World House
Check out the Tony Humphries events here ↓House · Garage HouseOn the second floor of a Newark motel, Club Zanzibar became a laboratory for the soulful club records that listeners would come to recognize as the Jersey Sound.
HEAR THE MUSIC / VERIFIED ARTIST LINKSBandcamp house music oral history ↗
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CITYNewark
LANDMARKClub Zanzibar
RADIOKISS FM
SOUNDJersey House
CHAPTER 01
The room on Broad Street
Imagine a young dancer walking upstairs inside Newark’s Lincoln Motel and hearing a room connected by something deeper than a big chorus. Club Zanzibar became a defining house-music institution, with Tony Humphries selecting records for crowds who cared about every transition. A September 2026 Bandcamp Daily history locates the club at 430 Broad Street and traces its influence well beyond New Jersey.
The building mattered, but so did the musical judgment being exercised inside it. A resident’s records can define a venue as strongly as its decor.
CHAPTER 02
New York radio, New Jersey nights
Humphries grew up in Brooklyn and was associated with New York radio, including KISS FM. But Newark was not merely an extension of Manhattan’s club scene. Zanzibar developed its own feel, audiences and signature emphasis on deep, soulful vocals.
That is why his biography belongs in both the New York City and New Jersey research trails without inventing two separate careers. One DJ helped join a regional musical ecosystem across the Hudson.
CHAPTER 03
A musical bridge
New Jersey house was never simply a local version of a record industry category. It was made and remade in a room, week after week. Dancers learned to trust Humphries to introduce unfamiliar songs and draw surprising connections among them.
Oral histories from DJ Doug Smith and others document how visiting Zanzibar shaped musicians who later made records themselves. Club culture creates artists by giving them something worth chasing.
CHAPTER 04
What lasts beyond a residency
Dates for Humphries’s Zanzibar tenure differ across historical accounts, so this profile avoids claiming a single uncontested ending year. Bandcamp’s 2026 history discusses a longer residency than some earlier interviews. The central, documented point is not disputed: those years helped shape house music on both sides of the Hudson.
The enduring lesson for a local DJ is that consistency, taste and trust can transform one room into a musical reference point for generations.
THE REPORTING BEHIND THE STORY
Verified releases, artist accounts, interviews and dated event records. Artist-reported history is identified in the article when older accounts disagree.
- Bandcamp Daily — Tony Humphries and Club Zanzibar, September 2026 ↗
- Red Bull Music Academy archive — Doug Smith on Zanzibar ↗
- Resident Advisor — Tony Humphries artist biography ↗Independent career summary names Club Zanzibar in Newark and the New York KISS FM radio work.
House · Garage House
TONY HUMPHRIES EVENTS
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