Review/ 'Jacob Collier's musicianship kept you constantly on your toes'

By Alexander Modell, Third Year, Mathematics

Grammy-award winning Jacob Collier's gig at the Trinity Centre was a night of pure musicianship and massive grooves, writes third-year Maths student Alexander Modell.

While many artists like to start their shows with a bombastic entrance, Jacob Collier does something very different: he turns to his favourite instrument of all, the human voice. Not his however but that of the audience, a sea of dedicated fans. After sprinting on stage, exuding energy, he instructs sections of the audience to sing different notes of a particular chord, forming a bed of harmonic colour. For most musicians this would be a complete disaster, but luckily for Jacob, his fans mostly comprise of music nerds who geek out at his extravagant arrangements, incredibly syncopated rhythms and audacious harmonies.

Collier rose to fame at the age of 17 after posting self-filmed, multi-tracked jazz vocal arrangements of classic standards including 'Isn't She Lovely' and 'Oh, What A Beautiful Morning'. Off the back of these legendary producer Quincy Jones signed Collier to his record label, Qwest, where his first album In the Room earned him two Grammy awards.

With the audience excited, he and his three-piece multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist band jump straight into 'With The Love In My Heart' from Djesse: Volume 1, the first of an ambitious proposed four-volume, 40-track project. At once, Collier does what he does best: switching from instrument to instrument and driving massive grooves. He's not scared change up his sonic palate frequently - a fast paced bass-driven groove will change to an ethereal acoustic landscape in the blink of an eye and change right back before you've even had the chance to realise it. You are kept on your toes constantly.

When the four on-stage musicians are not enough to recreate the arrangements that Collier creates in the studio, he cues the audience to provide backing vocals or additional percussion, at one point creating 'We Will Rock You'-style claps and thuds and at another engaging the audience in a spontaneous clap-battle, feeding on the musical talents of his audience to create a sea of syncopated clapping similar to Steve Reich's classic ‘Clapping Music’ or Spanish flamenco.

At the very end of the show Collier began his encore by dimming the lights and having the entire audience sit on the floor, before sitting down with his band and playing a fully-acoustic rendition of 'In My Room', switching between bass ukulele and melodica and passing various instruments around his band.

The evening created a sense of awe through the audience at the pure talent and musicianship of an artist who is still in his early twenties. The next three volumes of Djesse are sure to provide with even more musical treats as Jacob Collier’s success seems certain to continue rising.

Featured Image: Jacob Collier / Decca Records

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