The art and craft of...
Jimmy Jam

By Dave Simons

After several fruitful years working with Prince during the early part of the '80s, R&B songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made the decision to strike out on their own. Rather than set up shop in New York or Los Angeles, however, the pair headed back to their hometown of Minneapolis, where they assembled a combination recording studio/publishing firm called Flyte Tyme— and then proceeded to write and produce some of the most popular dance hits in history.

Over a career that now spans more than 20 years, Jam and Lewis have recorded with names like Mary J. Blige, Usher, Mariah Carey, Yolanda Adams, Jessica Simpson and Janet Jackson, while compiling an astounding 16 #1 pop hits—making them second only to Beatles producer George Martin in the chart-topping department. This past September, Jam was named chairman of the board of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS).

Jimmy Jam recently spoke about the duo's achievements and the creative process that has served them so well for so long.

What do you think accounts for the incredibly successful songwriting partnership you've enjoyed with Terry Lewis all these years?
For one thing, we think differently! In my early years my influences were very popradio oriented—anything that had really nice harmony, I was into. Later in high school when Terry was listening to things like Parliament Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band, I got turned on to writers like Gamble & Huff and all the great stuff out of Philadelphia. So when we began writing together, our differences became a real benefit. That combination of influences has always been there.

How do your songs take shape?
When we're writing with an artist in the studio, we usually prefer to keep it very simple— just keyboard, bass and drum machine for backing. And while we're laying down this framework, we try to record the artist on a microphone that has some baffling. That way we get to keep the vocal track—or, more accurately, parts of it—as it's going down.

So it's like you're doing a demo while you're working out the song.
Right. And what often happens during the process of creation is that there will be some spontaneous vocal lick or ad-lib—and if you aren't set up to capture it, you're never going to get it again. When you come right down to it, that's what gives any good song its energy—you just have to be ready for it and know how to properly bottle it. So not only does that sort of arrangement enable the artist to get comfortable, it lets them get involved in the writing process as well—which has always been a very important part of what we do.

Technology can help get you there, but there isn't a product on the market that can add feeling.
What I usually tell people when they're singing is, 'Don't worry about the notes, I can fix them.' But there's no way I can fix a vocal without any passion! So when I'm recording, what I'm looking for is a performance— so I'll typically have the singer give me maybe 10 or 12 tracks to work with, let them go home, and then I'll start working it out from there.

You've said that the looseness that marked Janet Jackson's Control sessions was key to that album's success.
With Janet, I just wanted to let it happen, I didn't want to have to tell her what I was after. Still, I think there are times when the singer needs to be coached, and Janet is no exception. Sometimes I would get her to use hand gestures, or have her put her hand on her hip, just to throw a little body language into the song. Prince used to say, 'Records should always be visual.' Meaning that when you're hearing a recording, you should also get a sense of what was going on in that room. The difference might be subtle, but believe me, it works.

A few years ago you relocated to Los Angeles after spending most or your time in your hometown of Minneapolis. Did the change of scene affect your writing style at all?
At first I thought I wouldn't be as creative…in fact, my biggest concern was keeping up my songwriting, because I think your work environment really has a lot to do with it. But as it turns out, we came up with most of the songs for Usher's [Confessions] album right there. So at that point, I figured, all right, I guess this is going to work after all!


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