No DJ has been more active in promoting the vibrant Washington, D.C. dance scene than Scott Henry. In the mid-’80s, while still a student at Towson State College in Maryland, Henry earned his reputation as one of the States’ most prominent tech-house DJs by spinning at some of the East Coast’s earliest raves. It wasn’t long before he put together Orbit, the first rave-style club night in the Baltimore/D.C. area, and Buzz, the capital’s longest-running dance party to date. Four years ago, Buzz was voted the No. 1 weekly dance event in America by URB magazine. But after a local news exposé denounced it as an excuse for drug abuse, Buzz closed for a short period in 1999. Unfazed, Henry preached moderation and revamped the event, which is now called Sting. He then signed a three-disc deal with Ultra Records, which just recently released Scott Henry Presents Buzz: The Politics of Sound, a hard-hitting compilation of techno-house and ethereal-trance tracks that capture the sound of his infamous weekly event. On the album, Henry plays tracks by artists such as the Utah Saints and Groovaholic; it’s further proof that he deserves his stellar reputation as a musical engineer, as he crafts a set of seamless, dark funk.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2001.