I thought I would like to bring in some of my favorite current albums in the jazz area. Jacob Collier is an exciting vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, etc. He’s probably most famous for his stylistic reharmonizations of songs on YouTube such as Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” The Carpenters’ “Close To You,” Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T.,” and Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm.” These unique covers caught the attention of special musical icons like arranger Quincy Jones, and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock.
There are also some fun originals that I’ve enjoyed, such as “Don’t You Know” on his first album, In My Room. After he made that album (where he plays all the instruments), he began working on a four album project called Djesse. It features several collaborations with many of Jacob’s favorite artists: some of them I discovered for the first time. Volume’s 1 and 2 are now released, and the third one is currently in progress.
The first volume features the Metropole Orkest (who made several collaborations with artists like guitarist Steve Vai, the instrumental fusion group Snarky Puppy, and many others). I thought I could show you what I love about this album, and give you some examples. This album (along with Volume 2) is fun to play from start to finish. I think of them like watching movies, where there’s going to be some unique adventures, and many surprises along the way.
The first song is a meditative choral vocal piece called, “Home Is.” It’s one of my favorite pieces. It begins with Eric Whitacre style harmonies that are beautiful, gradually increasing in tension, until a cinematic bass and lyrics bring a nice harmonic release. The orchestra shows up for “Overture,” which begins with a really cool, dreamy twist on a Benjamin Britten Opera that had a huge impact on him which I’d love to demonstrate in the future. Anyway, this goes into a wild section with little snippets of each song, and it took me several listens to spot the themes.
Then we get to the first full song, “With The Love In My Heart.” What I love about this song is how Jacob takes a neo-soul, hiphop style drum groove, and takes it to another place. When I watched Jacob’s Logic Session Breakdown of the song, I was able to get the rhythms down to recreate it; it’s on my SoundCloud page… It starts off as an exciting upbeat song, then goes into a dance vibe, leading to a dream sequence where the music almost stops, before a single note is played to slow down.
Then the first collaboration “Ocean Wide, Canyon Deep” is a beautiful song, going between Jacob, and Laura Mvula.
The title track “Djesse” is a nice mid tempo piece, mainly focusing on the orchestra, and multi-layered vocals. What came in my mind was how influential The Beatles were on so many artists, and Jacob is taking it to another level.
One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is his use of technology. Just like how The Beatles experimented with the tape machines during that time, Jacob is exploring all sorts of possibilities with his Logic program. He’s able to manipulate the recording of the orchestra to change the pitch to have a really cool feel which is not really possible in a live setting. So there’s lots of exciting ways to make music now!!!
This is featured a lot on the next upbeat song, “Everlasting Motion.” This was also my introduction to the rhythms of Morroco, one of Jacob’s favorite unquantized drumming patterns, along with the hiphop rhythms of people like D’Angelo, J Dilla, etc. I know this may be hard for you to understand, but I’d love to demonstrate it via YouTube, and open more people up to these rhythms. Some of the coolest rhythms are hard for me to explain, and if I had my Victor Reader Stream machine out, I could tell you the time lengths I’m thinking of. Anyway, it’s a wild and exciting song going between African rhythms, jazz, some cool gospel harmonies during the fast ending, etc. It’s just one of my personal favorite moments on the album!
Then we get to the first cover, The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” This is my second favorite cover of this song; the first is Shawn Colvin’s acoustic driven version. Both of them brought their own take on the song, as well as singing it in their own way.
My favorite ballads on this project so far are “Once You,” and “Feel” from the second volume. “Once You” features his mom Suzie on violin, and I also love how the chords go to unexpected places. The last moments of the song always bring me to tears.
The last song (on Volume 1) is an exciting cover of the Lionel Richie hit, “All Night Long.” This combines both Morrocan and Brazilian rhythms. It’s a reminder that they share so much in common. He demonstrates this on another Logic Session Breakdown. This track also features my favorite vocal group, Take Six!
Anyway, I hope you’ll find something fascinating about this album, and that you’ll find some exciting explorations along the way. Next time, I’d like to write about the second volume, because it too has some personal favorites! I hope you like it!
1 comment
OK, now you have introduced me to something new, refreshing and fetching!
So I am actually familiar with Jacob Collier from his unforgettable appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival several years ago. It was an amazing performance where he played a stage full of instruments with layering, looping and over dubbing all of them taking us into trips of orchestral symphonies of moving sound.
But clearly you have made me aware that I am not keeping up with his latest. And yet I can be forgiven for being several steps tardy since he, Jacob, moves like a gnat caught in a hurricane of his own making. Exhausting pace for this old guy….
So I hear moments of Meredith Monk in this album and, dare I say, Keith Emerson. Let me explain the latter so it does not sound like a contrivance created in a bubble. Rather than de -constructing then rebuilding, they both do more eclectic mixing and matching – they both preserve much of the original style and forms by bouncing to and fro, betwixt and betwain. Emerson does it more condensed and more seamlessly. Where as Collier is more on a hit parade, a bit more Holly Wood – but mostly in a good sense.
The first piece is my favorite and reminds me of a personal favorite vocal group. This was a short lived jazz acapella group named Sonos whom never got the recognition they deserved. In more recent history they morphed into a group named Arora. But I highly recommend Sonos’ one and only CD if you can find it. It is a gem. I guarantee you will like it.
I have a funny story to tell, that I probably shouldn’t tell, about Jacob at MJF. He was a solo performer on stage powering out a more than full sound scope and with video no less. But back stage, was what I would call the hidden half of his performance. Basically a young wizard operating an array of multi computing. If you will, the hidden secret to Jacob’s massive and yet flawless multi-tasking.
An un-authorized photographer backstage decided he wanted a shot through the hole in the back drop immediately above that computer operation and its operator. This nearly turned into a show stopping disaster. Fortunately yours truly grabbed the careless buffoon before disaster struck. So, I think Mr. Collier owes me one. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have told that story.
Thanks for the introduction to the latest Jacob.
Bruce