70s Smooth Jazz Beginnings and ThomasKd's Smooth Jazz Series

In the 1970s, jazz started loosening its collar — trading rigid bebop precision for warmer grooves, electric keys, and melodies you could ride in the car with, and that laid-back sophistication is exactly what I chase in my Smooth Jazz Series. 🎷

The 70s gave us fusion — jazz musicians borrowing from funk, soul, and R&B to make something looser and more accessible. Instrumental hooks became as memorable as vocal ones. That's the spirit behind the instrumental interludes and mellow textures woven through ThomasKd tracks like That Feeling of Love.

🌇 Why Smooth Jazz Still Works

• It's music for real moments — dinner, driving, winding down
• Melody leads, not just rhythm
• It respects the listener's intelligence — no shortcuts
• It ages beautifully, just like the people who love it

I built an entire corner of the site for this — visit the Smooth Jazz Lounge to hear the full series, and check the Our Artists page to see how this fits into the bigger ThomasKd Production story.

🎧 Watch: Midnight Talkbox — smooth, slow, and built for late nights.

Curious about the roots? Here's a solid primer on smooth jazz and how it evolved out of 70s jazz-funk.

🎶 Stream ThomasKd: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

Got a favorite smooth jazz artist from back in the day? Tell me in the comments. 🎹

From Motown Grooves to ThomasKd's Love Ballads: A 1960s Soul Story

Before there was streaming, before there was auto-tune, there was a sound coming out of Detroit and Memphis that taught the whole world how to fall in love to music — and honestly, that 1960s soul heartbeat is still the pulse behind every ThomasKd love ballad I write today. 🎙️

Growing up in the 60s, I remember music wasn't background noise — it was the event. Families gathered around record players, and a three-minute soul song could carry a whole relationship's worth of feeling. Artists leaned on live horns, tight vocal harmonies, and lyrics that spoke plainly about devotion, heartbreak, and healing. That's the foundation I build on with ThomasKd Songs.

💛 What 60s Soul Gave Us

• Call-and-response vocals that made you feel like part of the conversation
• Storytelling lyrics instead of vague hooks
• Live instrumentation — real horns, real strings, real feeling
• Songs written for grown love, not just infatuation

You can hear that soul-era DNA in tracks like You Still Got My Heart and Still Wearing My Ring — songs about love that's lasted, not love that's brand new. That's a very 60s idea: commitment as the whole point of the song. 💍

If you want to hear where this journey started for me and where it's headed, check out the About ThomasKd Production page, then dive into the full Music catalog.

🎧 Watch: Magic Hands Jean — a modern love song built on that classic soul groove.

For more on the era that started it all, read up on the history of soul music and how Motown changed the sound of American love songs forever.

🎶 Stream ThomasKd: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Pandora

What's your favorite 60s soul classic? Drop it in the comments and I'll tell you which ThomasKd song it reminds me of. 💬

The AI Dilemma: Are We Using Artificial Intelligence or Is It Using Us?

The AI Dilemma: If AI Changes Your Job, Will You Be Ready?

The AI Dilemma by ThomasKd explores artificial intelligence, disappearing jobs, workplace automation and one of the biggest financial questions facing working people today: what happens when technology changes the way you earn your living? 

This song follows naturally after Bills Keep Climbing. That song deals with the pressure people already feel when groceries, insurance, utilities, housing and other expenses keep rising while the money coming into the household does not always rise with them. 

The AI Dilemma asks what happens next if artificial intelligence begins changing jobs faster than some workers are prepared to change with it. AI does not need to eliminate every job to create financial pressure. If technology reduces staffing, changes required skills, lowers demand for certain kinds of work or makes some jobs disappear completely, people who are already struggling to cover their bills could face an even harder problem. That is why I do not see these as two unrelated songs. 

Bills Keep Climbing describes the financial pressure many people already understand. The AI Dilemma looks toward a future where adapting to new technology could become part of protecting your income.

This is not a song saying artificial intelligence should disappear.

AI is here.

The bigger question is whether people are preparing for what comes next.

TWO SONGS • ONE BIGGER STORY

First the Bills Keep Climbing

Before we even talk about artificial intelligence, many households are already dealing with financial pressure.

Food costs more.

Insurance costs more.

Utilities cost more.

Housing costs more.

And for plenty of people, income has not increased enough to make those higher expenses disappear.

Bills Keep Climbing asks: What happens when the money starts running out before the bills do?

Then AI Walks Into the Workplace

Now add artificial intelligence and automation to the picture.

Businesses are looking for ways to become faster and more efficient.

AI systems are already performing tasks involving writing, customer service, data analysis, scheduling, research, design, programming and administrative work.

That does not mean every worker doing those jobs disappears tomorrow.

It does mean the job itself could change.

Some positions will require fewer people.

Some will require new skills.

Some new occupations will appear.

And some people who refuse to adapt could find themselves competing in a labor market that moved while they were standing still.

HIGHER BILLS ARE HARD ENOUGH.

NOW IMAGINE LOSING THE INCOME THAT PAYS THEM.

That Is Where the Two Songs Meet

Bills Keep Climbing deals with the problem people can see right now.

The money coming in has limits.

The expenses do not seem to care.

The AI Dilemma asks us to think further ahead.

What happens if the way you make your money changes?

What happens if part of your job becomes automated?

What happens if somebody who knows how to use AI becomes more productive than somebody who refuses to learn it?

What happens if a company decides five people working with technology can now accomplish what ten people handled before?

Those questions turn artificial intelligence from an interesting technology story into a household financial issue.

Learning to Adapt Does Not Mean Surrendering to AI

This is where I think the conversation often goes wrong.

People hear “adapt to AI” and think it means letting a machine do everything.

I see it differently.

Learn what the technology does.

Learn where it helps.

Learn where it fails.

Learn how your profession is changing.

Then decide how you remain valuable inside that changing environment.

The goal is not to compete with a machine at being a machine. The goal is to become better at doing the things technology helps you do.

The Skills That Become More Important

Technology changes which skills carry the most value.

Knowing how to use AI tools will matter.

But so will things machines do not automatically give you:

Judgment.

Experience.

Critical thinking.

Communication.

Creativity.

Leadership.

Problem solving.

Knowing when the technology is wrong.

That last one deserves more attention than it gets.

The Worst Strategy Is Pretending Nothing Is Changing

People have lived through major workplace changes before.

Factories became automated.

Computers entered offices.

The internet changed entire industries.

Digital photography transformed photography.

Streaming transformed music and television.

Smartphones changed how people shop, communicate, travel and conduct business.

Each major change created winners, losers and people who had to learn something new.

Artificial intelligence looks like another major shift.

Ignoring it will not stop it.

Watch The AI Dilemma by ThomasKd

The song approaches artificial intelligence from the human side.

Jobs.

Money.

Creativity.

Control.

Responsibility.

And whether people are preparing for the changes arriving around them.

Watch The AI Dilemma on YouTube

Here Is the Question I Want People to Think About

If AI changed your job tomorrow, how prepared would you be?

Would you know which skills you needed next?

Would you know how AI is already being used in your profession?

Would you know how to use the technology yourself?

Would you be ready to move into a different type of work?

Would you wait until your employer told you something was changing?

Those are uncomfortable questions.

They are also better questions to ask before the change happens.

AI Is Not Only a Technology Story

It is an employment story.

It is an education story.

It is a business story.

And for families trying to keep food on the table and bills paid, it could become a financial story.

That is why The AI Dilemma belongs right behind Bills Keep Climbing.

One song asks what happens when expenses keep rising.

The next asks what happens when technology starts changing the paycheck paying those expenses.

What Do You Think?

Will artificial intelligence create more opportunities than it eliminates?

Which jobs do you think will change first?

And what should people be learning now to protect their future?

Join the conversation in the comments on the video.

THOMASKD PRODUCTION

Keep Listening

Explore more ThomasKd music about relationships, money, technology, growing older and the real-life experiences people are living right now.

Listen on Your Favorite Streaming Platform

Spotify • Apple Music • Amazon Music • iHeartRadio • Pandora • YouTube Music

When the Bills Keep Climbing, Grown Folks Understand This Song

Bills Keep Climbing by ThomasKd turns rising prices, everyday expenses and grown-folks responsibilities into an original R&B song about a reality millions understand. Rent or mortgage. Groceries. Electricity. Insurance. Gas. Phone bills. Subscriptions. Repairs. You handle one expense and another one seems ready to introduce itself.

That is everyday grown-folks life, and sometimes the best way to deal with it is to put a beat behind it.

ThomasKd Production has plenty of music about love, relationships, dancing and good times. But grown-folks music should also recognize what happens when the music stops and somebody has to open the mail.

Some Songs Come Straight From Everyday Life

You do not need an elaborate story to understand Bills Keep Climbing.

You need a mailbox.

Or an email inbox.

Or one trip through the grocery store where you look at the total and wonder what in the world you bought.

Those experiences are part of adult life. They also give songwriters plenty to talk about.

Grown Folks R&B Has Room for Real Life

One reason I enjoy creating grown-folks music is the range of stories available.

Life is not one long romance.

Sometimes you are dancing with somebody you have loved for years. Sometimes you are thinking about somebody you lost. Sometimes Friday night finally arrives and you are ready to enjoy yourself.

And sometimes you are sitting at the table wondering why the electric bill looks like somebody added a car payment to it.

That belongs in the music too.

THE GROWN-FOLKS EXPENSE REPORT

Groceries
You bought the same things. The receipt got longer.

Utilities
Turn off those lights. We are not illuminating the entire neighborhood.

Insurance
Another renewal notice. Another number to stare at for a few seconds.

Everything Else
Somehow it all wants its money at the same time.

There Is Humor in Recognizing Yourself

A song about bills does not need to sound depressing.

That would miss the point.

Part of the fun comes from recognition. You hear something in the lyrics and think, “Yep. I know exactly what he is talking about.”

Music has always helped people talk about real life. Love. Work. Money. Family. Heartbreak. Celebration. Frustration.

Bills Keep Climbing belongs in that tradition, except this time the villain might be your grocery receipt.

“Being grown means knowing exactly when the bills are due without looking at the calendar.”

Listen to Bills Keep Climbing by ThomasKd

If you have ever looked at your monthly expenses and wondered when everything decided to get more expensive, this one should sound familiar.

Watch Bills Keep Climbing on YouTube

What Bill Makes You Shake Your Head?

Everybody seems to have one.

Is it groceries? Electricity? Insurance? Property taxes? Cable? Your phone bill?

Or is there one expense where you swear the company spins a wheel every month before deciding what to charge you?

Leave a comment on the video and tell me which bill keeps testing your patience.

ThomasKd Production Is Music About Life

That is the larger idea behind ThomasKd Production.

The songs do not need to pretend everybody is 25 years old, living in a nightclub and spending every waking hour chasing romance.

There are plenty of stories after 40, 50, 60 and beyond.

There is love. Humor. Attraction. Family. Confidence. Frustration. Dancing. Memories. Peace. And yes, there are bills.

Those experiences give grown-folks music something worth talking about.

More ThomasKd Music Is Waiting

Explore more original R&B, soul, funk and smooth jazz from ThomasKd Production. You will also find ThomasKd on major music streaming services.

Visit the Listen & Stream page

Remember Recording Songs Off the Radio? You Had to Be Quick | ThomasKd Production

MUSIC MEMORIES

Remember Recording Songs Off the Radio?

You Had to Be Quick

Give me

There was a time when creating your own music collection required patience, timing, and a finger ready to move at a moment's notice.

I'm talking about recording songs off the radio.

If you lived through the cassette era, you already know where this is going.

You had your blank tape ready. The radio was tuned to your favorite station. The recorder was waiting.

Now came the hard part.

You had absolutely no idea what they were going to play next.

Step 1

Put a blank cassette in the recorder.

Step 2

Find the radio station playing the music you liked.

Step 3

Wait. And wait some more.

Step 4

Hit Record when the right song finally started.

Then You Waited

I remember doing this myself.

Most of the time, I didn't know what was coming next. The station might play something I already knew. It might play something new. Sometimes a song came on and I decided almost immediately that I liked it.

So I recorded it.

There was no button showing what songs were coming in the next hour. No playlist on a screen. No recommendation engine telling you what you might like.

The radio station controlled the order.

You listened.

And sometimes you got surprised.

Waiting for the right song was part of the experience.

Starting the Recording Was Only Half the Battle

Once you caught the beginning of the song, you still weren't safe.

Now you had to worry about the end.

Was the DJ going to start talking before the music finished?

Was a commercial about to start?

Was the station going directly into another song?

You had to be ready.

I got pretty good at stopping the recording at the right moment.

There was a strange satisfaction when you caught the ending clean. No commercial. No DJ voice. No extra noise. You got the song.

Of course, every DJ seemed to have a special talent.

They knew exactly when to start talking over the last five seconds of the song you had been waiting twenty minutes to record.

One Song at a Time

After a while, those cassette tapes became personal collections.

You might have several different artists on one tape because the songs were recorded whenever the radio happened to play them.

You wrote titles on the cassette label or on the little paper insert inside the case.

Sometimes your handwriting was neat when you started.

By the time you reached song number ten, things might be getting a little questionable.

But you knew what was on that tape.

And Yes, There Was Usually a Pencil Nearby

Anybody who spent enough time around cassette tapes remembers another problem.

Sometimes the tape came loose.

Sometimes the player decided it was hungry and started pulling your cassette apart.

That's when a pencil became part of your audio repair kit.

Put the pencil into the cassette reel, turn it, and wind the tape back in. High technology? No. Effective? Absolutely.

Now Think About How We Listen Today

Today, if you hear a song you like, finding it takes seconds.

You search the title.

You add it to a playlist.

You save an album.

You ask your phone what song is playing.

You might have access to more music from one device than most of us could have imagined owning when we were sitting beside those cassette recorders.

That is progress, and I enjoy the convenience.

But there was something interesting about waiting.

We Didn't Have Everything. So We Paid Attention.

When you didn't control every song that came next, you listened differently.

You stayed near the radio because the song you wanted might come on.

And sometimes the song you didn't know you wanted came on instead.

That surprise was part of discovering music.

The Technology Changed. The Feeling Didn't.

We don't need blank cassettes anymore.

We don't have to sit beside the radio waiting for our favorite song.

But we're still doing something people have always done.

We hear a song.

Something about it catches us.

And we want to keep it.

Back then, keeping it meant pressing Record.

Today, it might mean pressing Save.

Different button. Same idea.

Do You Remember Doing This?

Did you record songs from the radio onto cassette tapes?

Did you make mixtapes?

And be honest. How many songs did a DJ ruin by talking over the beginning or ending?

THOMASKD PRODUCTION

The Way We Listen Keeps Changing

The equipment changes. The formats change. The buttons change.

But when the right song comes on, we still don't want to let it get away.

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From Saturday Records to Streaming: My Lifetime With Music - ThomasKd Production

MUSIC • MEMORIES • LIFE

From Saturday Records to Streaming

My Lifetime With Music

Some of My Earliest Music Memories Are About Saturdays

When I think about music from my younger days, I don't always remember a particular song first.

Sometimes I remember Saturday.

My brothers and I would sit around listening to music. Sometimes it was the record player. Sometimes it was the radio. We weren't scrolling through thousands of songs trying to decide what to hear next.

We listened to whatever was playing, talked, laughed, and enjoyed the music together.

When Records Were Part of the Experience

Playing music required a little more participation back then.

You picked out the record. You removed it from the sleeve. You put it on the turntable. You lowered the needle.

And if you were playing a 45 with that big hole in the middle, you needed the little plastic adapter many of us called a spider.

If you remember those little 45 RPM spiders, you already know exactly what I'm talking about.

Then There Was Soul Train

Saturday music wasn't limited to the record player or radio.

There was Soul Train.

We watched to hear some of the latest R&B and soul artists, but the music was only part of the experience.

We watched the dancers.

You wanted to see how people were moving to the music. You saw the clothes. You saw the style. You saw the new dances.

We didn't only listen for what was new. We watched to see how people were dancing to it.

Then We Learned How to Catch Music

Cassette tapes changed things again.

Now you didn't always have to buy the record to have a copy of a song. If it came on the radio and you were ready, you could record it.

The important words were "if you were ready."

I remember sitting there waiting for songs to come on. Most of the time, I had no idea what the station would play next.

If something came on that I liked, I recorded it.

Then came the tricky part.

You had to stop the recording before the commercial started, or before the DJ started talking. I got pretty good at catching the button at the right time.

Long before we created digital playlists, some of us were building them one radio song at a time.

And the Way We Listened Kept Changing

Over my lifetime, I have watched music move through one format after another.

Vinyl

LPs, 45s, album covers, turntables, and record collections.

8-Tracks

Music became something we increasingly carried into the car.

Cassettes

Record it. Carry it. Make your own collection.

Walkman

Your music became personal and portable.

Compact Disc

Digital sound arrived on a shiny little disc.

MP3

Music became files that moved between computers and portable players.

iPod

Suddenly, a huge music collection fit in your pocket.

Streaming

Today, an enormous world of music sits a tap away.

AFTER ALL THOSE CHANGES

Something Never Changed

Music still has the ability to attach itself to our lives.

Sometimes a Song Is More Than a Song

I was listening to some old R&B recently when I started thinking about something.

Have you ever heard a song you haven't played in years and suddenly found yourself somewhere else?

You're remembering a person.

A place.

A conversation.

Maybe even a version of yourself you haven't thought about in years.

That's one of the fascinating things about music. A song playing during an important moment can become connected to the experience. Years later, hearing it again can bring pieces of that moment rushing back.

Sometimes you don't miss the song. You miss the person you were when you listened to it.

And Now I'm on the Other Side of the Music

There is something I find interesting when I look back across all those years.

I started as the kid listening.

I sat around listening to records with my brothers. I listened to the radio. I watched Soul Train. I recorded songs onto cassette tapes. I went through 8-tracks, CDs, portable players, digital music, and streaming.

Now I'm creating music.

ThomasKd Production grew out of a lifetime of listening, learning, experimenting, and enjoying what music brings into our lives.

Where ThomasKd Production Fits Into the Story

Today, ThomasKd Production is home to three different artist identities.

ThomasKd

Grown-folks R&B, soul, funk, relationship songs, smooth jazz, and music inspired by real life.

Ms Aria

Bold personality, humor, relationships, confidence, and a female perspective with its own musical identity.

D30T

A different musical direction with its own rhythm, attitude, energy, and sound.

And then there is the ThomasKd Production Smooth Jazz Lounge, where original instrumental music and visual storytelling come together to create places for relaxing, reading, working, dining, and resting.

This Blog Is About More Than New Releases

Yes, you'll find music from ThomasKd, Ms Aria, D30T, and the Smooth Jazz Lounge here.

But I want this site to go further.

We'll talk about the way music used to be experienced and the way we experience it today.

We'll remember records, radio, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, CDs, music television, portable players, downloads, and streaming.

We'll talk about dancing, relationships, technology, culture, memories, and the strange ability of a three-minute song to carry an entire chapter of somebody's life.

Most of all, we'll talk about why music continues to matter.

Now I Want to Hear Your Story

What's one song that instantly takes you back to a specific moment in your life?

Maybe it's your first love. Your school days. Your first car. Someone you miss. A summer you'll never forget. Tell me about it in the comments.

THOMASKD PRODUCTION

This Is Only the First Track

New music, old memories, changing technology, stories behind the songs, and a few trips back through the ways we used to listen are ahead.

Look around. Press play. Stay awhile.

Music has changed a lot over the years.
The reason we listen hasn't.