Producer and Keyboardist Jason Miles Reimagines Chuck MangioneAccording to news on Tuesday, "Grammy-winning producer, keyboardist, and composer Jason Miles, whose five-decade career includes collaborations with icons such as Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, and George Benson, has long been an influential force in jazz fusion and contemporary music. In his latest project, Miles reimagines Chuck Mangione’s 'Doing Everything With You' as a tribute to his late friend, using the Rhodes V8 Pro virtual instrument plug-in to blend modern production with classic Rhodes tone."

"Rooted in the New York City jazz scene of the 1970s, Jason Miles built a reputation as a forward-thinking keyboardist and producer who embraced the Rhodes as both an expressive instrument and a platform for innovation. He owned and customized multiple Rhodes pianos, including a Suitcase 73 and a Mark I, which he modified by rewiring outputs and experimenting with effects like wah and phase shifters. By routing the instrument through multiple outputs and EQ’ing each section separately, he was able to craft distinctive tones that set him apart from other keyboardists of the era."

"That studio-driven curiosity led to landmark collaborations with artists including Miles Davis and Luther Vandross, where his warm, song-first approach to electronic keyboards helped shape crossover recordings."

Miles explains, “Every great keyboard player had their own sound. They all had a distinct style on the Rhodes, and you could tell who was playing just by listening.” He adds that mastering the instrument requires a unique touch: “You have to let it breathe. It has to sustain or be short and funky. When you approach it like an acoustic piano, it loses what makes it special, because the Rhodes responds best when you play it with feel.”

"Now based in Lisbon, Portugal, Miles continues to explore new musical contexts, carrying the Rhodes language he helped define into contemporary work," a statement reads.

“I was very progressive in my thought pattern about how to get these sounds where they could work with music, yet be interesting sounds that nobody really was hearing before.” For “Doing Everything With You,” he kept the focus on feel and touch, learning the tune by playing it over one hundred times before recording a full pass. He set a click for the first eight bars only, then performed the piece straight through and made minimal fixes afterward, describing it as a “hybrid performance” that preserves the groove while using software for light corrections.

"The sound is centered on the Rhodes V8 Pro plug-in, performed on a MIDI keyboard with subtle delay, gentle panning moves, and a light phase shifter, all created within the plug-in itself. Miles praised the V8 Pro for its authenticity and flexibility, noting that its sampled design captures the unmistakable character of the Rhodes."

“What I like about the V8 Pro is that it’s sampled in a way that feels true to the original,” he says. “It allowed me to create the sound I was looking for

“The V8 Pro brings that classic sound into the present,” Miles adds. “It has the warmth, the vibrato, and the musicality that make the Rhodes sing.”

"The V8 Pro made that balance possible, delivering the classic Rhodes character he knows intimately while giving him modern precision where it counts."

“Doing Everything With You” is available now on streaming platforms and via Jason Miles’s Bandcamp page.The post Producer and Keyboardist Jason Miles Reimagines Chuck Mangione first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.