Instant Disco History #9 - Morning Music

And hours from the end, but not too many, the DJs would slowly, softly, sometimes imperceptibly, prepare the dancers for that inevitable close, by tap, tap, tapping on the BPM (beats per minute) brakes, easing the tempo, softening the vibe, smoothing out the edges....so that by 4am, by 6am....you were sometimes almost at a dead standstill. But. You were still dancing, as the DJs trotted out their silkiest sounds.
And we called it Morning Music.
Some liked to call it "sleaze", in deference to the fact it was often the accompanying soundtrack of hasty sexual decisions made on a thinning dancefloor, spurred by evaporating options. I always preferred "morning", myself. Morning music wasn't from any particular genre, the only requirement was slow, lovely, heartfelt. No screaming divas, ever. Morning sets would include sultry r&b, new wave, spare Italo, proto-disco, whatever, as long as the mood was lovely. I even heard Susan Morabito play Dolly Parton and Kenny Roger's Islands In The Stream around dawn at a Saint party...and it totally worked.
Some DJs almost hung their entire creative hat on their morning music sets. Robbie Leslie, at Fort Lauderdale's Copa, to whose morning set I once dragged my roommate around the dancefloor by the ankles, during Nights Over Egypt, by the Jones Girls. Michael Fierman, whose morning sets at Fire Island's Pavillion were legendary. Warren Gluck at the Morning Party. Buc at the Winter Party. Neil Lewis at Pleasuredome. And the above mentioned Susan, whose Black Party 2002 morning music set literally brought me to tears.

I'll add in some artist/bio information later, but for now, here's an album's worth of downloads for you, culled from my own personal "best of morning music" playlist. I'm sure some of y'all will contest the morning-ness of one or two of the tracks. Hell, that's sort of the hallmark of morning music fans...the arguing over what is and what isn't morning music.
Now hand me the baby powder and right-click, my lovelies, and let me slow it down for you.
Grace Jones - La Vie En Rose (1977)
Thelma Houston - Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (1979)
David Ruffin - Walk Away From Love (1975)
Godley And Creme - Cry (1985)
Hi-Gloss - You'll Never Know (1981)
Jean Carne - Was That All It Was? (1979)
Miquel Brown - Close To Perfection (1985)
Sharon Ridley - Changin' (1978)
Gazebo - I Like Chopin (1983)
The Jones Girls - Nights Over Egypt (1978)
Took such a long time to convince me
You could fill that empty space
But Saturday night is shining
On my Sunday morning face
And what's your favorite morning music track?

Instant Disco History #1: Voggue
Instant Disco History #2: Luther Vandross
Instant Disco History #3: Skatt Bros.
Instant Disco History #4: Karen Finley
Instant Disco History #5: Disco Orchestra
Instant Disco History #6: On Broadway
Instant Disco History #7: New York City
Instant Disco History #8: Disco Lucy