How Frankie Knuckles's Label Def Mix Marked the First Anniversary of His Death

Celebrations are happening across the country to mark the one-year anniversary of beloved house pioneer Frankie Knuckles. This week, in his hometown of Chicago, Frankie's closest friends threw a launch party for a movie about his legendary club, The Warehouse. Meanwhile in Miami, David Morales, Hector Romero and Quentin Harris, all essential members of Knuckles' New York-based label Def Mix, gathered for a joyous tribute to his memory.

Co-hosted by the revered (and sadly defunct) local club Vagabond, the party was a contrast from the rest of Miami Music Week's usual trappings—Ultra Music Festival's kandi kids and South Beach's chi-chi pool parties felt a world away as the Miami Beach Edition's basement nightclub filled with the diva vocals and piano stabs of classic disco and house. Everywhere you looked, there were towering club kids dressed in stuffed animal costumes, glamorous middle-aged women in feather boas, muscle-bound gay men showing off their tans, and wispy models waving glowsticks—an eclectic crowd that would have done the dancefloor of The Sound Factory proud. Listen to a recording of Morales' set, and check out some photos from the nostalgia-steeped night below.