November 15, 2025

94. Jimmy Jam: Drum Machines, Synths, Tape to Digital, AI & the Future of Music (Plus MJ, Janet, Prince)

1 hour 32 minutes

Episode 94: Jimmy Jam. Our first live audience interview! Jimmy Jam has lived through every major jump in music technology over the last five decades: drum machines, synths, MIDI, sampling, tape to digital recording, DAWs, and now AI. Together with Terry Lewis, he helped shape entire eras during these transitions, from Prince to Janet, Michael and beyond. Again and again, he showed that technology does not kill music. Musicians adapt, and the music adapts with them.

In this conversation, we explore the real history behind the tools that changed everything, the fear curve that always appears during each breakthrough, and what today’s AI moment looks like through the eyes of someone who lived through many of the most important shifts in music technology. If you want to understand where music is going, you have to understand how we got here. Jimmy Jam has one of the clearest perspectives in the world on that journey.

We recorded this in front of a sold out audience at the Abundance Institute’s Creative Frontiers event, and I could not imagine a better guest to talk about this moment in music history with. This is an important conversation, let's keep it going. Join us in the comments with your thoughts and questions, and let’s keep learning together.

'Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.

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The Abundance Institute is a mission-driven nonprofit focused on creating space for emerging technologies to grow, thrive, and have a chance to reach their full potential. Abundance hosts Creative Frontiers to bring artists, builders, and policy-influencers together to shape the future of creativity.

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Filmed LIVE at The Recording Club in Santa Monica

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