Kenny Dixon Jr. and the late James Yancey represent opposite ends of Detroit’s musical spectrum: The former, better known as Moodymann, makes murky house music; the latter is revered for the hip-hop productions he turned out under the aliases Jay Dee and J Dilla. But both native sons are branches of the same musical tree. Humberto Hernandez knows that nexus well. Working at Detroit’s legendary Buy Rite record store, he would play Jay Dee’s early beat tapes in the shop and dare co-worker Dixon to bust moves to them. Using the handle DJ Dez, Hernandez was the DJ for Yancey’s group Slum Village, but he also dropped soul-flecked house tracks as Andrés on Dixon’s labels KDJ and Mahogani Music.
Like his more revered peers, Hernandez is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the African American pop vernacular, be it obscure deep soul, smooth jazz, or roller-rink standards. Catch one of his sets and you can hear Andrés confidently traversing these genres and more at a dizzying clip. His previous albums were just as dynamic, spinning like a restless radio dial and never staying on one sound for long. Coming eight years after his last album, Andrés IV captures all of the above while catching him at a professional peak, coming off a run of singles that was among the decade’s most pleasurable.
| A1 | Back In The Old Times |
| A2 | Mighty Tribe |
| A3 | I'll Wait 4 U |
| B1 | What's Ur Name Again |
| B2 | Truth Serum |
| B3 | New For U |
| C1 | Illuminate |
| C2 | Free |
| C3 | Waist Deep |
| D1 | Learn 2 Love (Yoruba Love Dub) |
| D2 | Run Dat Shit |
| D3 | Pleasure |
