Legendary producer Jimmy Jam has spent a long time shaping the sound of recent music. As one half of music’s preeminent producing duo Jam & Lewis, his fingerprints are on data by Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Prince, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, New Version, Boyz II Males, Usher, Babyface, and numerous others. Whole eras of R&B and pop have been constructed from that basis.
Now, as he seems to be forward to 2026, Jam isn’t slowing down or trying backward. He’s centered on preservation, storytelling, and ensuring the tradition understands the place the music actually comes from.
“The subsequent verse for us in 2026 is 2 issues actually closely,” Jam stated. “One is we’re very a lot within the documentary house.”
That documentary push is properly underway. A Jam & Lewis documentary is at the moment in manufacturing, providing an inside have a look at one of the influential artistic partnerships in music historical past. On the identical time, Jam and Terry Lewis have simply government produced a documentary on Curtis Mayfield, a venture that’s already producing severe buzz.
“We simply bought finished government producing a documentary on Curtis Mayfield,” Jam shared. “Despite the fact that it’s not out, the critics which have seen it have already deemed it the most effective documentaries of 2025. Wow. H.E.R is the director on it. So it’s a musician speaking a couple of musician.
The movie connects generations in a significant method, he advised Radio One. “Curtis was a powerful affect on her and she or he wished individuals to learn about him.”
That very same sense of accountability to the previous is driving Jam & Lewis’ first directorial venture, a documentary centered on Gamble, Huff, and Thom Bell, the architects of the Philadelphia soul sound.
“There’s no Jam and Lewis with out Gamble and Huff,” Jam stated.
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Music You Don’t Simply Hear, You Perceive
Whereas the documentary work factors towards the longer term, Jam stays deeply related to the stay expertise. At Metropolis Vineyard NYC, he not too long ago returned for Late Growth presents Jimmy Jam: Jamz & Dialog – Half Two, an intimate night mixing storytelling, stay piano, and shared reminiscence.
The idea, developed alongside Elijah Wells of Late Growth, was designed to do greater than entertain.
“I prefer to name it two issues,” Jam stated. “One is an knowledgeable listening expertise… despite the fact that you’ve heard these songs one million instances, whenever you hear it after this, you’ll hearken to it another way since you’ll know the way it was put collectively.”
The second layer is about connection.
“It’s a shared listening expertise,” he stated. “When that tune comes on, you look throughout the desk… or it may very well be somebody you don’t even know, however you discover that you’ve that music in widespread.”
Late Growth, an leisure and advertising and marketing firm recognized for crafting culture-forward occasions and artistic collaborations, helped create an area the place these moments might unfold naturally. The demand has been sturdy, and Jam says taking the present on the street could be very a lot on the desk.
“We’ll see what the viewers needs and we’ll attempt to determine it out,” he stated.
Turning Music Into Motion
For Jimmy Jam, music has all the time been about greater than charts and accolades. That perception is on the coronary heart of Sometime Has Begun, a world initiative utilizing music to combat starvation.
The venture is tied to the Tony Robbins Basis’s 100 Billion Meals marketing campaign and is designed to be interactive somewhat than passive. As an alternative of a single completed report, Jam wished a dwelling piece of music individuals might participate in.
“These days, individuals wish to be concerned,” he stated. “So we determined to make a tune… that turns into a dwelling, respiration factor that persons are concerned with.”
The initiative additionally contains The Subsequent Verse, a collective of creators dedicated to utilizing music for social impression.
“I name music the divine artwork,” Jam stated.
The attain is each international and native. “We wish to guarantee that Gaza is fed and locations world wide,” he stated, “however we additionally wish to guarantee that the native meals cabinets and the communities are in fine condition.”
Bringing the Catalog to the Stage
One other long-awaited chapter is lastly arriving: Jam & Lewis performing their catalog stay.
“We’ve by no means actually gone and performed our catalog of music stay,” Jam stated. “So we wish to go and try this.”
After profitable performances in Japan and Atlanta, 2026 is shaping as much as be the yr audiences hear these timeless songs in a brand new method.
“Our anchor artists are two powerhouse vocalists: Ruben Studdard and Shaunice Wilson,” Jam reveals, noting Studdard’s means to deal with all the things from Usher to Alexander O’Neal. “Shaunice simply shines. She will be able to deal with all of the females, she’s significantly nice doing Janet. And Janet is the hardest one to do.”
“It’ll be that reminiscence financial institution,” Jam stated, “the place you’ll hear these songs and sing together with them and have some enjoyable.”
Regardless of his large affect, Jam stays grounded. His favourite indulgence is easy and really human.
“My unhealthy behavior is a grande mocha Frappuccino in a venti cup, double blended, further whipped cream. I’m Starbucks day-after-day. That’s my vice,” he discloses. However at the least I stroll there. Its a couple of mile from our home. So I stability it with a stroll.”
“I ought to get a sponsorship out of this,” he laughs.
OK Starbucks? Wasssup?!
Celebrating the Architects of Tradition
Along with working with Jimmy Jam, Late Growth’s dedication to honoring the tradition continues with Ralph McDaniels, the pioneering creator and host of Video Music Field, whose platform helped introduce hip-hop to a nationwide viewers and doc its earliest stars.
On February 26, Late Growth can pay tribute to McDaniels for his birthday with Ralph McDaniels and Associates at Brooklyn Bowl, that includes EPMD, DJ Chuck Chillout, Strafe, Roxanne Shanté, and extra, a gathering that displays the dwelling historical past Jam is working so exhausting to protect.
As for Jimmy Jam, each venture connects again to the identical concept: honoring the previous, partaking the current, and opening doorways for the longer term.
As he places it merely, the work is now not about sometime.
“Sometime has begun.”
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Article by Jazmyn Summers. You’ll be able to hear Jazmyn each morning on “Jazmyn within the Morning “on Sirius XM Channel 362 Grown Folks Jamz . Subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube. Comply with her on Fb and Instagram.
