Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 16: Jacob Collier

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Brightening up our cold January with his fabulous colourful outfit and wonderful positivity was our next guest, musical prodigy Jacob Collier. Jacob and his magical ocarina joined us for dinner, and we learnt all about how he was discovered by Quincy Jones, his unusual rider choices (limoncello anyone?!) his mums legendary apple pie, and his week spent listening to the full Beatles back catalogue in lockdown. Thank you for popping round Jacob, you’re an absolute delight! Jacob’s new album Djesse Vol.4 is released globally on the 29th February. X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners, I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here eating a whole bag of crisp before dinner. Yep. Delicious. Okay. Lenny's here looking divine. Lenny's here been cooking darling because Jessie arrived a little late. Um well are we speaking about ourselves in third person now because Jessie was busy making a new record and Jessie did the last three. So Jessie says go... So it's all left to Lenny. Oh my God, stop.

Oh my God, it's a band breaking up, Mum. Stop. Thank you for your services. What's on the menu tonight? A simple meal. Great. But everyone loves it. So you don't feel too tired by the meal?

I'm just clarifying. So there's no shopping, no prepping, nothing. No. Okay, fine. I'm fine. Had a little flirt with Steve and Ginger Pig, didn't you? Had a flirt with Steve and Ginger Pig. Gave me an extra slice.

Love that for you. I think actually knowing a butcher well is probably the most life enhancing attribute you could possibly have. So Steve said, I'll put another one in for you. Thanks, Steve. Love you, Steve. Ginger pig, we love you. So what are we having? So we're having the best ginger pig sirloin, tagliata.

What does tagliata mean? It's chopped up, I mean, I think. I think we've done this a few times but that's okay. We've done it three times. Russell Tovey? No. Stanley Tucci? No it wasn't Russell Tovey. It was. It was? Yeah. Oh and I was giving Rocky meat under the table to keep him. French bulldog yes. So it's and I'm going to put some rosemary and lemon on after I've seared it both sides just as a little juice with all the juices from the steak. Do you do it with butter or oil? I'm not doing it with anything. I'm going to do it in my new hexclad pan, darling. Oh, because you are... A hexclad person. And I actually think...

Cousin, the bear. Yeah, I think it might be better without anything on because it will sear it better. In the hexclad? Yeah, I think so. Well, I might put a little bit of oil in i'm not putting butter in because he doesn't have dairy darling oh yeah well i'm trying to avoid killing him he's allergic to peanuts and seems to be allergic to eggs and doesn't eat eggs and dairy okay so everything's done with olive oil and then i've done a baby gem lettuce and avocado salad.

Then I've done some slow roasted tomatoes. Gorge. And some grilled asparagus. Pardon my carbon footprint. Why? Because I'm sure it wasn't harvested in Kent. No, it's not asparagus season. No, it isn't.

But I really fancied it. And I've done little baby potatoes that weren't very baby. They were very grown up potatoes. And I've done them in olive oil and rosemary and garlic. Yum. So that's very simple. So like steak dinner. Steak dinner. podcast now jacob collier if you don't know who he is i don't know where you've been he is a multi instrumentalist talented soulful musician artist who has collaborated with everyone from stormzy to herbie hancock to han zimmer to michael mcdonald so jacob collier is kind of a big deal okay um and you may have seen videos of him where he gets the audience

to become a choir yeah now think about thousands of people singing and these are people that are coming to enjoy an artist but they are having to partake and the sound he gets out of them is stunning so we have the brilliant Jacob Collier coming up. He's got a new album out called DJESSE. But I'm going to say it's Jesse. Jesse Volume 4. And it's got Shawn Mendes on it. It's got Stormzy. It's got Michael McDonald.

He's got a new single out with Camilla. Camilla who? Parker Bowles. She's like Cher. She just calls herself Camilla. But that's coming out in February. So he's got the album coming out later in February and the single coming out. So I think he's coming on to talk about some of his music.

But he knows the drill. He's going to be fed. We'll be talking about food. Jacob Collier coming up on Table Moms. Jacob Collier is here in so much colour and making me very happy. Yeah, you've really cheered up this week. Yeah. Well, that's good to hear.

Thank you. Is that a rainbow vape on your neck? It would appear to be a rainbow vape. It's in fact a rainbow ocarina and it goes... I was once at a party in New Yorkork city i think it was yeah and i was approached by this girl extremely intoxicated just very having a merry old time who was convinced it was a vape and i and she said oh can i have a go on it and i thought she meant like give it a two you were like oh my god the girl of my dreams i was like go ahead and then she kind then she kind of went... And I said, no, you're supposed to breathe out. You breathe out into it.

And it was, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just didn't make a sound. And then we kind of parted ways. And that was the end of the story. She wasn't for you, Jacob. She wasn't for me, but that's okay. Ocarina, isn't that what like Zelda has? Ocarina of Time.

Is that... Yeah. That is a thing? Yeah. Yeah, very much so. Do you play Zelda? I used to a lot, actually. I played the one after Ocarina of Time, which is called Wind Waker.

Is that another music instrument? So Link, who's the main character of Zelda. Yes, I know that Link. I didn't think we'd be here at this point of the conversation. Sorry, babes, yeah. So Link conducts in the air, and depending on the shape that he conducts, it's kind of like up, left, right, whatever, he can change the direction of the wind.

And I mean, for so many reasons, I just love this so much. You know, the idea of magic and the idea of conducting the air. A lot of it was just like, yes, yes, yes. So that was like my main Zelda protocol. Maybe you should do like the next soundtrack for Zelda. That sounds great. Babe. Yeah.

I think I just got you your next gig. I'm totally down. I'm totally down for that. Do you always wear colours? Often, yeah, very often. Who knitted your jumper? I don't know the name of the person. It's beautiful.

But I appreciate it. Is it warm? I like pink, it's nice and warm. Yeah. It's a little kind of, how can you put it, high. It's like a, almost like a crop top. Yeah, but it's fine. It's chic.

So it's warm on the top. But then it shows off those pants. A little, yeah, that's true. That's true. And then let's, babes, it's bloody January. I know you love your Crocs, but at least get the furry ones, doll. So I have some furry ones, but I might...

Are these your own brand ones? They are, they are. These are the Jacob... But how are your feet? You've got frostbite. I've got two pairs of socks. Tricks of the trade, tricks of the trade. But yeah, this is the Jacob Croc.

But I do think that maybe you should do a winter fur version I would be down I think that's what they need to sort out are you his manager now I'm sorry this is amazing

I'm just getting all these ideas Zelda Winter Crocs okay cheers you're here lovely to meet you really lovely

thank you for having me cheers indeed I mean I feel like I know you with your beautiful voice your voice is well amongst other your voice is stunning i was playing mum the song with michael mcdonald on oh yeah and i went and she went oh michael and i was like no no that's jacob yeah yeah right michael hasn't come in yet you've got the gravelly voice there so actually the first person who sings on that song is my friend Clyde. And Clyde is in a band called Lawrence.

And Lawrence are featured on that song alongside Michael McDonald. So you may have mistaken me for Clyde, who has an amazing voice. Okay, maybe. Does he have the gravelly voice? He goes... Which is the Michael McDonald thing, which I adore. I think it's gorgeous. But yeah, because lots of your chords are quite Doobie Brothers.

Totally, totally. Do you love the Doobie Brothers? I adore the Doobie Brothers. Me too. Do you? I feel like you love everything But yeah, because lots of your chords are quite Doobie Brothers. Totally, totally. Do you love the Doobie Brothers? I adore the Doobie Brothers. Me too. Do you? I feel like you love everything, though, about music. Yeah, there's something to love in everything. That's for sure.

But the Doobies are filled with nutritious chords. That album, every song on it, from the one with Waterfall Please, is my best song, I think. Probably one of my favourite songs. Oh, me too. So, it's January. Yes. And your album of my favourite songs oh me too so it's January yes and your album's coming out

in February that's true why is it called Jessie it's not after her it has a D in front of it so I know it's not after me and we've just met

but you know volume 5 just a huge fan so when I was a kid my friends used to call me JC because that's my initial it's Jacob Collier

so it's like JC let's go out to the park and play Ultimate Frisbee or something is that what you were doing things like that in my in my abullion youth but anyway I wanted to create a series of albums so volume one volume two volume three volume four that kind of contained all the things I loved about music which is a lot of stuff and originally it was one massive great album. And then it kind of sprawled into two and three and then eventually became four. But the idea with it being, yeah, volume one,

volume two, volume three, volume four, was each of them are a different kind of universe of sound, different bunch of collaborators, different state. But they're all kind of this adventure that I went on and I'm still kind of going on as this album has just been finished in figuring out what there is to love and what there is to explore with. So it's kind of self-titled in a sense, Jesse being kind of going on as this album's just been finished in figuring out what there is to love and

what there is to explore with so it's kind of self-titled in a sense jesse being kind of jc but it's also in some ways this kind of external character who's going on this journey that i've kind of populated this this world of of different things to play with and stuff is i've learned so much in the last six years making these four records how old are you crazy 29 you're too talented it's annoying really quiet you're an overachiever oh jacob you're an overachiever i apologize jacob what was the first instrument you played oh well i suppose in some ways it was the voice probably the same with everybody i'm curious what you would say to this but for me i was i was listening and speaking

the same language of music so i i grew up as a child singing everything I could hear, which gradually became sort of more and more dense musical things. So you start by singing notes, then you want to sing chords, then you want to sing really dense chords. So I would layer my own voice on top of itself to be a bit like Michael McDonald, actually. When you were layering it, you were using software already? I was.

When you were little? Yeah. How young? So I got Cubase, which is one of the various music softwa software already? I was. When you were little? Yeah. How young? So I got Cubase, which is one of the various music softwares, when I was seven years old. And it was me with my little SM58 and just getting on into the chords and getting filthy with it. There's nothing quite like a good harmony. And you really dig them. Oh, I dig them so much.

It's gorgeous. It's gorgeous. So I spent so much time just with that whole world and stretching my voice. Yeah, I dig them so much. It's gorgeous. It's gorgeous. So I spent so much time with, just with that whole world and stretching my voice. Yeah, I adored it. But piano was important for me growing up too. And then bass became more important in my teens. Played double bass.

And then I was always kind of tapping on surfaces. I've been told I'm not allowed to tap on this table. Yeah, you're behaving yourself so fast. So yeah, and it's really hard. So you play drums as well? Yes. He plays everything. Yeah.

So on the various albums I've created, I tend to play all the instruments. It's just one of the things. It's one of my hobbies. So taking it back to Ultimate Frisbee, JC. Yeah, yeah. Back in the day. Where were you and who was around your dinner table and what is a memorable dish from your childhood? Fantastic question.

So I actually still live in the house I grew up in when i was one two three years old which i feel really lucky to be able to say so you're still there you're there with your parents yeah so i live with my mom and my two sisters and it's been like that for so so so long kind of as long as i can remember you know so all of the primary associations you make as a human like this is a door or this is a tree or whatever. They were all formed and forged in this exact home. So it's such an intimate place to grow up. And there's one room in my house. I kind of took it over as my studio space.

It started just the room with the piano in it. So it was with obvious gravity for me, but I've sort of since created this wonderful kind of kaleidoscope of different things that make sound in this room. I've made all five albums I've ever made in this room. So hang on. So Stormzy's coming over to Finchley. Yeah.

Michael McDonald's coming. Michael McDonald's I recorded in Los Angeles. Fair enough. Not Michael McDonald. That's a long way. But yeah, I've had all sorts of people. I think Tori Kelly's been over to my house. Umu Sangari's been over to my house.

Jojo. I've seen her live. How have you? Umu Sangari went with Jill and Johnny. Yeah. Where did you see her live? Was it at the Barbican? Oh, was it?

Yeah. She's extraordinary, isn't she? She's extraordinary. And when she sings, she has all these beads in her hair, and they kind of shake, and they add to the percussion. Oh, it's just extraordinary. She's extraordinary. She's an amazing musician.

She's kind of like the Queen of Mali. Yeah. So, yeah, that's very different from, say, like having Jojo around. Yeah. But it's just an amazing room. It's like a shape-shifting room. it adapts to whoever's in it and supports it's just like a magical place so what were you eating around the dinner table yeah so good to get back to your question we're going to talk about music quite a lot tonight potentially and is food

very important to you jacob food has always been very important to me and none more important than home-cooked food okay if i had to sum up the first say 10 years of my life in one dish i'd have to say it was the homemade apple pie oh really which just is still now it's just a staple my mum yeah and does she do a crust underneath as well as on top yeah or just a crust on no so there's a there's a there's a pastry base and then picture the top but the thing about that dish is that there's no sugar in it. But it's just so unbelievably delicious nonetheless. Because she uses eating apples, probably. Yes, she does. Yeah, yeah. Was it quite a healthy household?

Yeah, I would say so. I would say so. We didn't... Well, partly because I'm allergic to nuts. I didn't grow up with a lot of chocolate, because I was sort of advised, hey, don't eat chocolate. I didn't have chocolate until I was 13. And how did that feel? It tasted really weird. It's like, ooh. Because texturally, it's quite alarming lot it's kind of alarming yeah you're not used to it you think

slightly waxy i think yeah yeah yeah do you like it now yeah kind of god kind of it's weird i just i never do you know what do you know what it's a bit like it's a bit like disney for me i just came to it so late on that you don't get it that i didn't forge the like fundamental roots so i watch it it's like that's so much fun that's gorgeous i love the characters but it's not like that's my jam like if when i see the beginning of liking it's like that's an interesting plot you know it's not like this feels like when i was five years old 10 years old so you didn't watch telly so so you had, I imagine, musical evenings with your family. Plenty of musical evenings. Do your sisters play?

Yes, they do. So you'd say... The Carpenters. Yeah, you could say that. Or the Entraps. You could say that. The Entraps. So you'd all say, let's play something tonight, just for fun.

Well, the thing we most like to do, which we still do, is we sing. Oh my gosh. Because there's four of us, so we sing SATB, which is called it's called SATB, which is soprano, alto, tenor and bass. So a lot of the most like foundational repertoire for choir is written for SATB. So it's perfect. What are you, bass? I'm bass.

Who takes tenor? My mum sings tenor because she can get down to like. Selfless. You know, down to this kind of. Yeah, yeah. She takes one for the team. And then, yeah, my sister Sophie sings alto and Ella sings top soprano.

So have you had a sing song today? We haven't because Ella now lives in Germany. My sister lives in Germany. So we've... Did you lose the alto? Mezzo or soprano? Well, we lost the soprano. Oh, I'm sorry.

And so it's like, it's all the tunes. Mate, I'm sorry about that. So we have to adapt. Can she ever Zoom with you and just have a little... No, it never works on Zoom, does it? The latency is tough. The latency is tough. But yeah, many musical evenings throughout my childhood childhood but it wasn't just playing or singing it was just

listening and talking as well popular music or classical music or mixture a mixture yeah i grew up with i don't know how it was for you but i grew up with such a like massive breadth of music it was kind of like there was no difference from listening to say stevie wonder to listening to like stravinsky you know like a like really amazing classical music or maybe like joni mitchell or bjork or it was just like this is music and so i kind of i was brought up to in a sense just kind of embrace anything as welcome but i i mean i know you can do anything but i do feel like deep down you're a soul boy i think there's soul in me there's a lot of d'angelo going on with that liam laver song oh yeah it's so good but you know i feel i mean you can do anything and then um is it little blue

yes yeah brandy carlisle that's kind of james taylor it's beautiful thanks so much yeah but like you um i mean you can do anything but I feel okay so you were doing singing you were eating apple pie oh yeah it was a good time ultimate for this sounds like a really nice childhood it was good fun yeah it was good how was it for you at school when I can imagine that you were so consumed by music was it hard to focus on other subjects yeah school was pretty weird for me and it's funny because since leaving the education system I think I've met more and more people who I feel like are my people who had a similar experience at school of kind of like I just don't think this education system necessarily designed for people

who don't want to follow the instructions if that makes any sense and it's funny I think my kind of temperament is to be often quite respectful to people, but also I'm quite irreverent. So I'll do things in ways that I don't expect or you don't expect or haven't necessarily been tried and tested before. I just, I love the edge, but I'm also kind of like, kind of kind and stuff. So I think being at school, I didn't want to make people, I didn't want to sort of, I wasn't a big troublemaker at school. I didn't want to cause a fuss. Are you academic? I wasn't. You're clever, obviously. I'd say I'm bright in a sense but i wouldn't say that i i wasn't extraordinarily diligent at school i didn't sort of but the music department must have thought you were the god well i think that they found me quite irritating in a sense because the instruments would go missing

from the cupboard it's like oh jacob must have been in or you know i played i played drums in my school band in my the school concert band so 60 students or you know i played i played drums in my school band the school concert band says 60 students and you know you get handed out the music and i've never been that good at reading music and so i the music was on the stand and you know the part just sort of was like really basic kind of like for the whole five minute piece and i'm just thinking and then it just really got under the skin of the conductor thing are you serious just can you please just read the part you know so i think there was like a love hate thing with me and the various departments no no it was a really bog standard state school with every kind of

person you can imagine and i kind of loved that because it kind of well it takes the it takes the edges off but it also gives you an access point to so many different kinds of people in the world it's like how do you think about this how do you think about this and I think that I think in a sense it was good for me but did you go to college I went I did half a degree in the end and then I kind of escaped halfway through what was the degree well the degree was in jazz piano at the Royal Academy of Music which sounds very academic and in a sense it was it was it's a really prestigious and beautiful institution that my mum studied at and her father studied that too so I was like third generation at the academy and the jazz course is interesting because it's um jazz for starters is a big word

and I also have never really thought of myself as a jazz musician I think I think just thought myself as somebody who loves sound and chords and stuff and so in the on the jazz course you learn a lot of old songs you know like autumn leaves and all the things you are and stella by starlight all these are really classic classic old songs and then you learn how to improvise over them all sorts of things like this but i think i was it was kind of like by day i was studying jazz and then by night i was like building this like cathedral of of ideas of just like oh i really want to do this i really want to do this and and every day on the day on

the way to school I would listen to a whole album start to finish on the way home I'd listen to another album through all the way through from start to finish and so I did like thousands of albums it's like a dual process one was like in the classroom doing the thing and following instructions and then the other was like building the inner world and I've just always been so excited at that that process like build a world that feels true to you what was the album that maybe made you think I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get on the tube tomorrow or the bus tomorrow to go back to I'm gonna stay in and yeah was there a particular album where you're like you know what sod this I'm not going back to um I remember when I did the whole of the Beatles discography in one week like that was a big week it's a big week

the whole Beatles in a week and you know it starts off real chipper and all the great songs and by the end it's just so deep and psychedelic and kind of it blows your mind and so I think by the end of that I was kind of like what is music?

what can music do? this is just such a massive thing are you hungry joker i'm gonna start i could do some food okay okay i'm going on the menu today oh yeah okay yeah what's what's the situation we're having tagliata which is uh steak beautiful with rosemary and lemon yeah done at the end unreal kind of would you mind it a little bit rare fine yeah totally so we're having that we're having them

with some smashed potatoes they're not smashed they're just roasted new potatoes fair play fine salad slow roasted tomatoes

some asparagus you know you've got yeah a whole cohort yeah exactly whilst mum is busy with the steak

yeah yeah we haven't really talked about food yet no i know it's true and i and i kind of thought this may be the case and i'm loving hearing about your music it's it's enthralling it's amazing would you say you're a big foodie i would say food has always played a very essential part of my life but the reason it's never got like under my skin yeah is because i've never really cooked very much okay and so i think there's a there's an intimacy with food that you could only get from making it but so okay you don't you don't really cook so i don't cook but i eat avidly and i would i would say actually a huge part of my childhood not only were the apple pies and spaghetti bolognese's and the roast chickens all that kind of stuff but fruit actually i'm a massive

fruit bat okay i always have been always will be so what would be in the the fruit bowl of jacob collier so many things i mean mangoes number one always always number one huge advocate of mangoes over here pomegranates would be number two i say love them just like outrageous like the rubies of the fruit literally the pearls how does that exist how did that come to be yes and then when they start putting it on savory stuff it just got even better didn't it yeah i've never had a dish with pomegranate in where i where the pomegranate has been unwelcome you know what i mean it always adds something yeah i like that something to aspire to so maybe you need to start with pomegranate being one of your ingredients yeah that's my

that's my core that's my core ingredient that'd be a unique a unique menu i'd be afraid i like you just have to go to otolenghi you'll be all right yeah exactly totally totally um okay so so yeah mangoes pomegranates um kiwis but i mean it's just like the feeling of my mum cutting me an apple before school just quartering the apple and like handing you know like i can't i can't describe the joy of that feeling it's pure comfort for food for me it's just you think hey it's a bit of apple so when i when i play shows and the rider it's just fruit for me you know it's like mangoes pomegranates apple and then i have like hummus and guac and a bunch of pitas or flatbreads or whatever. Grand Marnier, Limoncello, root beer and we're done.

Limoncello? Yeah. I guess it's a fruit. Yeah, it's a fruit. I think it's because it's fruit adjacent. You are the only person that I know that is having Limoncello on their rider. Are you serious? And you're like in your 20s.

Yeah, yeah. That's like a kind of like, I feel like an elderly mafioso. Like, I mean, I'm into this. Yeah, I think there's like a mafioso version of limoncello, but also it's just so delicious. Oh, I disagree with you, Ben. You don't like it? I find it quite like medicinal.

Too tangy? No, it's not the tang. It's like, it feels like it's like medicine. I don't know. So you've got limoncello. What's your other booze on your radar? Gros Marnier. Orange liqueur.

Another fruit. I didn't realise until you said this. I'm obsessed. The Gros Marnier is special. What are you having with Gros Marnier? Just neat. Is that kind of like the musical prodigy version of like Covorsier or something?

What's that? You know, all the kind of hip hop lot have Covorsier. It's like grab the Covorsier, which is a brandy. Oh, it's a brandy. So you have Grand Marnier. Honestly, you're blowing my mind

with your idea. I'm kind of into it. Are you touring a lot this year? Yes. How are you feeling about it? I adore it. So it's okay. I love it.

I didn't used to love it. And it changed Once you included The audience And you felt How many band members Do you have now? Six Okay

Yeah so it's seven of us On stage We're adding one from last Last year was Six in total So five This year is seven in total So six

What was the instrument That got added? Guitar Specifically like Electric guitar But there are actually Four guitarists in the band I'm one of them

But we all play In a different way So So it's, yeah, it's quite a, it's quite a dynamic bunch of people. We all, we also all play lots of instruments. So we're all, we often trade, we'll trade instruments throughout the show. It's really, really fun. So how does it work with all your collaborations? You know, will, how do you perform those songs? Do you have someone in the band singing the Brandy Carlile or the Shawn Mendes bit? Yeah.

Yeah. I've got a really capacious, they all come out in different cities. Well, if there's a special occasion gig, like at the end of this year, I'm playing at the O2 and I'm going to try and get them all to come out for that because it's just a mad time.

But I think for, for most of the time I've, I've got a band that's kind of specifically designed to cater for all sorts of different kinds of voices so I've got three incredible women on the front line of my band there's Alita Moses who's just unbelievable unbelievable R&B singer there's Erin Bentledge who's like an extraordinary folk and jazz singer then there's Lindsay Lomas so I don't even know Lindsay Lomas but she's like kind of like a soul it's like the soul and the pop and they all have such different voices.

But together, the sound is unlike anything you've ever heard. So between them, they can be like Tori Kelly or they can be like Jesse Reyes or they can be Shawn Mendes or they can be Michael McDonald. Like they can shapeshift. And I deliberately designed a band that could that could do that kind of morph into whatever was necessary. shift and I deliberately designed a band that could that could do that kind of morph into whatever was necessary you know I'm intrigued about the audience being the choir because I mean it's amazing what you do oh thanks when did that start and when did you realize that you could get a whole room of potentially tone deaf people yeah yeah to sing like an army of beautiful voices well I guess it began in the one-man show days yeah where as i mentioned it was like this process of coming out of my shell

learning about audiences and i think when i first started out a lot of the my audience were musicians like they loved music so much yes that was like that was the core of my fan base when i started so they wanted to sing and they not only wanted to sing they want to sing harmonies right so i'd get them to do a call and response or i'd sing one of the songs and they'd be singing along so i i think at a certain certain point i realized what okay if you you guys just keep singing that i'll loop you over and i'll sing this and then actually you sing this and so i'd have two parts of the audience doing different things and stuff and over the course of those three years of learning, I was aged 20 to 23, like figuring this out.

And you learn most people, what they lack is not skill, it's permission to give in that scenario. People know what to do. If you just say, you can do this, genuinely you can do it, they do it. And it's like magic. It is magic. There's nothing like groupuinely, you can do it. They do it. And it's like magic. It is magic. There's nothing like group singing, is there? Nothing.

Like group dancing, group singing. It makes everyone feel happy. It's so good for the soul. And yeah, I think for me, it was just like this realization that I was at my happiest on stage when everyone was singing in the audience. I think I've always felt kind of strangely

about this idea that you're like, there's a hierarchy between you on the stage and you do the performance and the audience just sits and has to just sit pretty and watch. It's always been really weird to me.

I think, you know, I remember seeing, have you seen that Queen video from Live Aid in 1985? At some of it. At Wembley. Yes.

There's this legendary moment after the first song where Freddie Mercury, I think he improvises it, but he just does this cool response. He goes like, yeah, yeah. And everyone goes, yeah, yeah like yeah and everyone goes yeah and it's like or whatever it is i remember watching that as a teenager being like that is the coolest thing i've ever seen because he every

single person in that whole room feels welcome they feel involved they feel like they have an access point to the music and they are like they feel seen i'm like i'm'm here. I'm a voice. I'm a pixel in this image. So I always had that as a North Star and have just figured out techniques to make people comfortable. If they see other people around them doing it or they hear other people around them doing it, it kind of buoys them up into doing it more. It's easiest in proscenium theatres

or indoor venues with ceilings because when you sing you hear it's like this reverb basically you hear the voices come back to you so you people feel even more encouraged yeah the hardest is outdoors so at Glastonbury yeah I literally did not know if that was going to work or not it was it did work it did work and I was blown away but I walked to the front of that stage in that blazing hot like 35 degree sunshine and I just gave it the best I could. I was expecting it to be kind of like okay well thanks so much

we tried you know. Did you know what you were going to get them to sing? Yeah. I planned a route through. It's a systematic approach in a sense. There are three parts to the audience. I give each part a note and then I move each part the note

up and down using my fingers and my eyes so I say you up you know and then they go up But that's the thing I found so amazing you're not telling you're not telling them what note to do I don't say a word no I don't that's what's so amazing and they know the intuition they know they everybody knows oh you could say enough people knows that the others will follow and once people realize oh so that means you go high and that means you go down oh then it's like the it's like it glues to it glues together and there's an amazing process when you you say okay up and then it kind of ripples kind of goes as everyone like instantaneously gets it and yeah outdoors is always harder than indoors

because there's no reflective surface so it just kind of goes up into the heavens and that's the end of the story so how will the O2 be? it'll be alright

I think it'll be awesome because there's a big old ceiling in the O2 do you I mean apart from having like maybe a few fabulous guests

in there will you be ambitious with your audience because you believe in them I'll go all the way in and that will be the last show of the year so I'll be I'll be in shape at that point as well like i'll i will have trained like myself up for that moment of 20 000 people you're being a conductor at that stage

yeah yeah exactly so let's talk about food on tour yes you've probably traveled around the world right by now yeah yeah where's you where are you kind of where do you go a lot do you know the city i've played most in my whole life is tokyo oh i'm so jealous of you i've played the most shows in tokyo which is so good for many reasons but sushi is number one for me oh the food is fantastic and do they sing do they go for it they do sing i did a really funny gig in um osaka actually in 2022 and it was right when COVID was kind of ending and there was a ban on audience participation, vocal participation, because it was expelling air. Did you defy that?

Well, I did actually defy that. Jake? I know, I know, I know. Well, I didn't until the very, very end of the show because basically what they said is, if you are seen to encourage singing, that but but i i know i know i know well i i didn't until the very very end of the show because basically what they said is if you are seen to encourage singing we we will pull the power from the show okay fine so that's the show but anyway we got to near the end of the show and i i did i improvised an equivalent thing with clapping so it would be like

and they would it was cool and then right before the end of the show I did an encore and then I was just kind of like and then I got away with it

I got some fuming eyes from the security but we got away with it and you've been invited back since I haven't played enough soccer since

but I don't think it's for that reason but yeah Tokyo the food the food is there a first stop the food gosh the thing with Tokyo but I don't think it's for that reason. But yeah, Tokyo, oh, I mean, The food. The food. Is there a first stop? The audience is on the food.

Gosh, the thing with Tokyo that I find magical is that you can walk into any sushi spot and it's going to be amazing. I know. But sometimes the best ones are the ones that aren't the fanciest looking,

you know, because there's lots that look really fab and, you know, it's like, hey, come to the best sushi in town. But we found a place last time we were there we were there in august 2023 play show in tokyo amazing it was amazing experience and there was a little kind of dive sushi place really close to the hotel and you know you land

tokyo from london it's like a really long trip you're exhausted you don't want to get in the cab and go to shibuya or anything you just want to roll out the hotel and see what there is so we found this place and it was i kid you not it was the best sushi i've ever had in my life and we went four times and it was so good are you a creature of habit yeah yeah if i find yeah my mom would definitely say this too about me it's like if she cooks a meal that i like once i will just eat that meal every day so the last three days i've eaten pasta with tomato sauce because i just love it and i just don't get bored of it and i even had leftovers for lunch today as well pasta and sauce so so hon did your mom do a big batch or you just

have to you've just requested no no she she did like a big batch and you've just been and we just loving it guzzling it down, you know. Look at this. Oh, mum, that looks good. That looks good. Please help yourself, Jacob. Thank you so much. This is just so amazing. Would you like some more champagne?

I could do a top-up champagne. That would be great. Mum, whilst you were cooking, we were talking about Jacob's places that he... I mean, he's touring loads. Do you like Japan? Oh, I love it. I love it so much. Why?

I think what fascinates me about Japan is the underbelly. It's on the top. It's very clean, organised, people are very hardworking, very respectful. And then when you dig in, there underneath, it's like crazy. Bonkers. Crazy. You know, there's like, there's robot

kind of DJ sets. Did you go to the robot show? No, I didn't. Not this last time. But I've heard such legendary things about them and they're just, it's just bananas. You know, even just karaoke-ing in Japan, it's just another level. Which leads us actually on to a question that we ask everybody. We usually ask at the end. It's my favourite.

Do you like karaoke? Well, you probably do if you're in japan yeah i'm i do you ever do it i never really seek it out but when i find myself in it i'm always feeling like i forget this is fun you know what's your song i well i've sung a whole new world actually speaking of disney a whole new world and i've never been to a karaoke bar where i've had to perform by my like a song by myself so i tend to do a whole new world with And I've never been to a karaoke bar where I've had to perform a song by myself. So I tend to do a whole new world with... There's one particular friend of mine,

his name is Michael, who sings the... I sing the girl part, he sings the boy part. Really, really fun. It's not you and Michael McDonald doing bloody karaoke in Tokyo. No, it's not.

But that does sound like a fun day out. What would be your karaoke song, Jess? Whenever somebody else says one, I'm like, oh, that is a good one. I don't really like the rapping thing, doing that. Do you rap? I mean, I rap in a Jacob-y way, I suppose. Does Stormzy rap? Yes, mum.

He does. He also sings. I've heard him sing. Stormzy raps better than almost anyone in the world. Really? Oh, yeah. He works with Jacob a lot. I love that man did you get him into singing um no but i did well i made his latest album that came out school this is what i mean he was made on this island ocea island which is off the east coast of essex i think it's a crazy beautiful place you only get to the island during about two hours of the 24

hour cycle because the ocean covers up the road. So once you're on there, you're basically just on there. And Stormzy assembled his kind of like A-team of producers, arrangers, songwriters, artists to help him craft this album. And to my total amazement and delight, he invited me to go. So I went to this island, 2021, and he played me some demos where he was singing, you know, and he's got this beautiful voice. Very vulnerable.

Really, just like straight from the heart. And so he kind of entrusted me with a few of those songs to kind of decorate around him, to sing and to bolster him up. So I kind of, I got to know his voice quite well on that trip. And so when I was finishing this song of mine, which is called Witness Me, that came out recently with Sean and Stormzy and Kirk Franklin I kind of knew I wanted him to sing a chorus because I know I know what that would have what that meant but yeah he's he's a he's really a he's a rap titan this Stormzy. Have you done any film scores? I have done a few film scores yeah yeah here and there. Films that

I'd know. Do you know the Boss Baby films? Yes. So I've actually, in Boss Baby 2, I scored a whole, there's a whole scene where the characters are jumping around in this musical, which I scored myself. And then the Boss Baby 1, I helped out her in there. But I'm a good friend of Hans Zimmer's. So Hans will often call me up and say, hey, I need a little bit of sprinklage, you know, on here and there.

And so I tend to oblige. What fun. Really, really fun. Really fun. If you could live in any other period for music, I mean, I feel that you enjoy this time of music because I think you enjoy all the technology. But if there was another time in music,

when would it be? See, I feel privileged because I was born in the 50s and grew up in the 60s. You've got a good, that's a good haul. I think, you know, living the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie. I mean, what more could you want? And then all the black music that was so wonderful.

Stevie and then Prince and Earth, Wind & Fire. I mean, I'd probably go back then, to be honest. I mean, just as a listener, as a lover of listening to music. As someone who makes music, there's just no better time than now. Food, Jacob. OK, Last Supper. Darling, more wine for your mother. Last Supper. as someone who makes music there's just no better time than now food jacob okay last supper last supper um last supper last this this is hard no it's not that hard it is it is a hard question come on okay okay starter what's it called in sushi when you have the is it yellow tail yeah that you get on the it's like it comes flat on the plate yeah with and it's so like it's just so flavorsome there is a name for that i don't think i know it what like the sashimi

yellowtail that you'll have like without the rice you have it with the kind of almost like is it ponzu sauce or usually like yeah yeah there's some it's something like that it's not maybe a jalapenos on there i think it might be that it's not like it's not straight sashimi it's like i seem to get it at the beginning of a meal in sushi. But that starter, like little, whatever it is, yellowtail or something on the plate with all this amazing flavor. That is just, it just gets no better for me than that. Where have you had the best yellowtail? It's either Los Angeles or Tokyo. Okay, tell me your Los Angeles spot.

It's called Kampai. Oh. There were two Kampais in LA. One of them is the one and the other one is also great, but it's not the one. The one, I think it's actually campai oh there were two campais in la one of them is the one and the other one is is also great but it's not the one the one i think it's actually near lax campai campai who took you there my dear friend and first manager adam fell who's still on my management team he's obsessed he's obsessed and so we went there they have like a room at the back just you need to get there darling you have the omakase and you're like oh there's the whole haunt and it's because adam knows the owner the owner is the

owner is a huge fan of quincy jones and quincy jones is adam's boss so quincy was my manager and this is my first manager quincy was your first manager well yeah i signed to quincy jones management that was what that was how i kind of began my journey i Le Fleur. I mean, he's the greatest. Where did you meet him? I met him in Montreux, Switzerland. At the Jazz Festival. Yeah, because he saw a YouTube video that I made. Yeah, it reached him.

And he also reached Herbie Hancock, who's another one of my absolute heroes. Me too. And I flew to Montreux 2014 when I was 19 years old. Shit. And I met both of them there. Were you performing in Montreux Jazz Festival? I just went to meet them. Oh my God, this is so romantic and fair.

I just went to meet them. So Quincy flew me out. Can you imagine? Quincy flies me to Montreux. What did your mum say? Well, I'd never been on a plane by myself. You were an unaccompanied minor. Well, you weren't a minor.

I was 19, Jesse. Did you go on your own? I did go on my own. That's really brave. I would have been terrified. did you go on your own I did go on my own that's really brave I would have been terrified it was a little scary but I went on my own I met the great man

I met both of them and I ended up playing in the jam session they have a Montreux jam session it's a legendary jam session I ended up playing a little jazz tune called My Funny Valentine

which I played on the piano and Quincy got up before I sang and said hey this guy is to me this is the future of everything I love about music this is Jacob Collier

and that was the first time I'd ever been introduced ever in public and I played that tune and it did you sing as well I sang it yeah I played and sang all this stuff and it was just a moment it was just a moment and so I began working with him kind of shortly after that

I was really hesitant about it all I didn't want to go into the music industry and be a big star and have someone take me under their wing and sign to a label I just wanted to do the thing I wanted to do and Quincy was just this amazing guy who was able to say you do you Jacob you know I'm not going to get in the way and it was for that reason that he that he got me you know so I signed with his team Adam has been president of that company for 20 years or so. And the guy who owns Kabai is a huge Quincy Jones fan, close friend of Adam's.

So Adam always gets the special back room of the restaurant. Love this. Yellowtail. That is a very cool starter, Jacob. Thank you for that. Yeah. We've got a little pud for you. Actually, Mum, you couldn't have played this better for that. Yeah, we've got a little pit for you. Mmm

I adore fruit so it's just fruit babe really, with apple and black, black. But, like, a thing like that will do you nicely. Perfecto. And this is coconut yoghurt. Oh, yeah. I'll get to that. Does that mean it's not dairy? It's dairy. It's dairy.

Yeah, yeah, that'll be great. I'm so terrified. Just one, darling. Right, you've got a spoon, and that's coconut whatever it is. Main. Main. It's so hard to say. I'd probably say the main would be spaghetti bolognese.

You know what? You and Michael McIntyre, babe. Really? Yeah. There you go. I'm in good company. I love spaghetti bolognese. It's one of my favourites.

Homemade spaghetti. I mean, it just doesn't get better than that. Does your mum do anything particular? How do you manage without parmesan? Oh, it's fine. It's great. Well, first of all, dairy-free cheese is getting on a pretty good level nowadays.

That's one thing. But I think when my mum does a tomato sauce of any kind, it's just so many good vegetables in there. And it's stacked full of just deliciousness. You've never tasted parmesan? I have tasted parmesan. Of course you have. You've probably just been to shit, Mum.

Do you not like it? It's just like, I don't know, the smell is kind of weird for me. Oh, you see. And the texture is kind of, I don to suppose. Of course he has. He probably just gets the shits, Mum. Do you not like it? It's just like, I don't know, the smell is kind of weird for me. Oh, you see. And the texture is kind of, I don't know. I think unless you get the, I mean, maybe it's like Disney and all these other things. Cheese and Disney. Unless it hits you early, and chocolate. Unless it hits you early, it's like, it doesn't get under your skin, and then you don't crave it.

And then it's like, do I really need it? Probably not, you know. Well, everyone needs Disney, though. Everyone, every ever needs disney i love disney so much right okay main this has no sugar in my mom would my mom would be proud it's really nice mom it's really refreshing and just yummy thanks that has definitely that's got dairy i'll stick with the coconut yeah that sounds good i love that little expression. What? Tastes like no other. Yeah, it's good. Tastes like no other.

So pudding, is it going to be your mum's apple pie? I would say so, but I would say, can I do like two puddings? Yes, of course you can. So it'll be my mum's homemade apple pie with, honestly, probably just like a massive fruit, like the best fruit platter in the world. Just like all the stuff. We've got pomegranates, you've gotes you've got berries kiwis you've got everything with bailey's ice cream oh i love bailey's but how can you have that i just i can't but i do

this is my last supper ever give me a chance yeah so bailey's ice cream jacob collier come on what can i say that's it it's like now like I don't know it's like kind of looking at you like you're Pat Butcher now

or something like that I kind of like it it's a twist it's a twist so what would be your drink of choice would it be throughout the meal

limoncello you can change it up babes you can okay let's start with dessert okay Sautern oh I love Sautern

is that a dessert dessert white sweet white wine Sautern is the greatest the greatest for meauternes. Is that a dessert wine? It's a sweet white wine. Sauternes is the greatest, the greatest for me. I love it so much. But you know, in the old days, my auntie used to bring Sauternes for our Christmas dinner. Yeah. Before people drank.

We have one in the Christmas area too. That's what we do. That's what we do. Huge fan. Okay, we're working backwards. Okay, so that's my dessert drink. For me, what am I having? Bolognese.

You have sake with your yellow fin hold on we're not there yet we're never going backwards that's the start of that no we'll get we'll get to that in a second okay get to that in a second i for me for my main meal for bolognese yeah not red wine just let the guy speak i'm trying to help him no red wine is a great shout i can maybe a dark red one would be quite nice i'm also just a huge root beer fan. Do you know about root beer? I mean, I can't say I've partaken in it. Really?

So no. Oh, it's wonderful. I don't think I've ever tried root beer. It's quite polarizing. Some people just cannot get that one. Where did you have root beer? Which jazz legend were you with having a root beer? Well, I first had root beer in Los Angeles in 2006.

Who got you into root beer? I think it was just on tap at the diner we were at and I thought oh yeah I'll try that did you have like a float

did you have like ice cream on tap oh yeah yeah yeah well not the first time but then I got into root beer floats later but root beer is really it's made out of licorice

okay it's not for everyone but it's for me it's for me for sure maybe I'd have root beer with the do you know what what

okay either root beer or yeah there's a really like prevalent soda in vienna austria yeah called alm dudler it's only in austria and i played a show in vienna in the summer this year and it was in my hotel room there was a bottle of this amdudler honestly i think it would i'd actually say i'm done like over root beer though i love itudla, it's like a combination of all my favourite stuff. It's like an elderflower-y, ginger-y... Ooh, lovely.

Like a lemonade-y, kind of like a bit like apple-tise-y. Of an appetiser. Oh, yeah, but it's such a great combination of all these different drinks, and it just slaps, it just slaps. And it's, like, refreshing. What, like, spirit could you have with that? Do you feel like it would work? Honestly, anything. You could totally mix that, what like spirit could you have with that? Honestly, honestly, anything.

You could totally mix that with whiskey. You can mix it with rum. I probably mix it with rum. That's what I do. Rum. Yeah. Because it has like the rounded sweetness, you know. This sounds great.

What's it called? I think that was an Almdudler. I actually, I loved it so much that I ordered like a crate. Yeah. To, I imported a crate from Vienna to London. And I have it in my and i have it in my house have you drunk all of it i've drunk about half of it and the crate arrived in the summer and i haven't been home that much so that's my excuse okay i love that okay it's great and

then and then for starter it's not like when you buy uzo in greece and then you drink it crap it tastes terrible when you're not by the sea i've had that exact experience with uzo actually no but for starter i mean like sake is the obvious choice, but honestly, like, we had champagne today, which was delicious. Quail Royale. Do you know Quail Royale? Yeah. Champagne with a little black...

A little fruity thing, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. Black currant. Black currant. Jacob Collier, that was a decent last supper. I would say it was eclectic. Much like... Global.

Global. Global, I love it. eclectic much like global global global I love it I love it a global dinner if we were going to come over to your house yeah you're welcome anytime thanks

do a sash yeah what would you cook for us Jacob me me cook for you oh god you look terrified that's like somebody saying to you

go and do improvise like go and do a jam I'm like me me me okay see that's how you feel no he doesn't cook I mean I would make you beans on toast That's like somebody saying to you, go and do improvise. Like, go and do a jam. I'm like, meh, meh, meh. Okay, so that's how you feel.

No, he doesn't cook. I mean, I would make you beans on toast. I like beans on toast. Delicious. Or crumpets and tomato soup. Crumpets. Crumpets you have for your tomato soup. What's your favourite tomato soup?

Just Heinz. Might be the Heinz, yeah. For me, it's still at rocks. Heinz tomato soup rocks. Dip the crumpet in and it kind of goes in the holes of the crumpet. Great. Really good. Are you a Marmite fan? Never really got into it.

But I wouldn't say I'm, like, averse to Marmite. No, yeah. Love it or hate it, yeah. Yeah, I never really had a chance to properly judge it, maybe. Are you going to Australia any time soon? Maybe next year, I think. Veggie-mite. Try that.

Maybe you'll prefer that. Veggie-mite. Yeah. Okay. Slightly less think. Veggie might. Try that. Maybe you'll prefer that. Veggie might. Yeah. Okay. Slightly less empty. Jesse loves the food in Australia. Oh my god the food.

Me too. Oh Melbourne is just so good. It's lobster road. Melbourne's like New York a bit. It's just like you kind of go anywhere

and it's going to be stunning. The thing about Melbourne which I love is that every single cafe is like a one off hipster experience. There's not like chains in the same way i love it it's just it's just and you know you're in for a treat no matter where you

end up it's going to be amazing where are you most looking forward to eating on your tour great question is it japan or is there anywhere else that you're going this year i don't think i'm not trying to go to japan this year i think i might swing by korea this year swing by love that get some face masks babe best skincare yeah really yeah hydrate that skin that's where your brother wants to go i really want to go to seoul yeah that's the thing i might be going in march how fun yeah just just for promo actually because i've because this this amazing group is etspa do you know etspa they're like a k-pop super group of today they're just k K-pop super group of today oh K-pop

absolutely wild are they on your record they are there's a song with Chris Martin and Espo crikey yeah and it's quite a combination

how did you combine them oh my god that's like a super group it's wild so have you met Chris Martin he's one of my dearest friends

is he lovely he's absolutely gorgeous yeah but because Espo are just so, like they're so massive in Korea, we're going to go to Korea in March and try and shoot some video stuff with them and get all that going.

And I love it. Good luck with the record. Thank you very much. It's such a pleasure to meet you. You too. So amazing. You're amazing. You're inspiring.

It's so exciting to see what's going on with you and the collaborations and just how how lovely you are I'm still cracking up about your ocarina somebody thinking it's a fucking vase

it was amazing that is the best story can you just give us another quick blow on that yeah okay here we go wow Jacob Collier JC

thank you so much for coming thank you it was a gorgeous time Wow. Jacob Collier, JC. Thank you so much for coming. It was a gorgeous time. Wow. What a lovely man. He's just incredible. Just astonishingly bright. Optimistic, positive.

Jacob Collier, thank you so much for coming on and just being so wonderful. I think maybe he should learn how to boil an egg when he gets home. He's all right with baked beans, so he'll be fine. Jacob's album, Jessie, Volume 4, is out on February the 29th. And his new single is out with Camilla. Mi Corazon. Is out now. Thanks, Jacob, for coming.

I just said to his manager, I was like, does he change your mood? Because I can imagine if you're with somebody so uplifting and positive, it stops you being in a strop. Yeah. We all need a bit of Jacob Collier in our life. Yeah, I think we do. Right, we'll see you next week. Thanks so much for listening.