Modern Jazz with Chicago Vibes
THE MUSIC
Don’t Overthink It. Put It On.
I’ve been listening to and playing music for most of my life. Sheridan Rhodes is the sound that has been rattling around in my head through much of it.
Smooth jazz. Instrumental grooves. Rhythm and blues somewhere in the bloodstream. A little Chicago that never completely goes away.
Some tracks move. Some sit still. Some started with a bass line, a guitar part, or a rhythm I played because I wanted to hear what might grow around it.
That’s usually where the fun begins.
I make music I want to hear and can’t quite find anywhere else.
That’s the complicated artistic statement.
THE STORY
Thirty Years of Unfinished Business
I started digital music production in the late 1990s with a stock desktop computer, 256 MB of RAM, a cheap audio interface, a mixing board, and a corner of my living room.
I made an album.
Then I kept going.
There were songs, instrumentals, lyrics, bass parts, guitar ideas, and years of work. Music was part of who I was.
Then my life came apart.
What was done to me left me emotionally wrecked. I didn’t make some thoughtful decision to take a break from music or pursue other interests. I lost the heart to play.
Producing anything was out of the question.
For years, the music sat. So did the lyrics and ideas.
Sheridan Rhodes is what happened when I finally found my way back to them.READ THE STORY →
THE ARGUMENT
Yes. I Work With Generative AI.
I use generative AI tools as part of my creative workflow.
There. We got that out of the way.
Now let’s be accurate about what that means.
My music often starts with me playing. Bass, guitar, rhythm parts, lyrics, or a musical idea I want to develop. I record it. I listen. I start figuring out where it wants to go.
Then generative AI becomes part of the production process.
I use it to explore arrangements, develop ideas, add instrumentation, test directions, and sometimes take the music somewhere I hadn’t considered when I played the first part.
Sometimes the technology gives me exactly the spark I needed.
Sometimes it gives me something technically impressive that I hate.
Sometimes it apparently decides the saxophone player is being paid by the note.
I reject far more than I keep.
This is AI-collaborative music production.
I’m not hiding the tools, and I’m not apologizing for them.
AI didn’t give me an ear.
It gave my ear a new set of tools.
I have quite a bit to say about that.
THE PROCESS
The Button Isn’t the Interesting Part
Anybody can generate something now.
That’s going to become less impressive by the day.
The interesting part is what happens before and after the button gets pushed.
What did you bring to the process? What did you play? What were you trying to hear? What did you reject? What did you change? Why did version fourteen survive when version thirty-two was technically cleaner?
And, eventually, why did you decide the damned thing was finished?
Sheridan Rhodes is a working music project, but it’s also where I talk about making music in this strange new period of generative technology.
The good.
The bad.
The absolute slop.
The tools, the process, authorship, disclosure, gatekeeping, and the growing number of people who seem convinced they can determine whether a piece of music has a soul by reading the production notes.
I’ve been making and listening to music since long before generative AI entered the conversation.
Now I’m working with it.
I think that perspective is worth bringing to the argument.
The Music Is the Point
This site isn’t here just because I may eventually sell CDs.
It isn’t a digital trophy case, either.
Sheridan Rhodes is where I make the music, show some of the process, and make the case for serious creative collaboration with generative AI.
You don’t have to agree with me about the technology.
You don’t have to use it.
You don’t even have to care how a track was made.
Hit play.
If the music works, stay awhile.
We’ll argue about the machines later.
LISTEN TO SHERIDAN RHODES