I had my reservations about his music. It’s too hard, too complex, too musically dense.
But after the concert on Saturday night in Detroit, I can unequivocally say, the critics are wrong. That includes me.
I don’t doubt that Jacob Collier’s music will continue to evolve, grow, as he matures and gains additional perspective on life and music. I also don’t doubt that he passionately believes in the music he’s making and its value.
The concert I attended was a sold-out love-fest of music nerds. I heard them cheer for the odd-meter, harmonically uber-complex tunes, heard them sing and clap along in sophisticated rhythm and harmony, heard them respond viscerally to the amazing (and profoundly musical) solos from him and his band. These were my people, reacting to intellectually sophisticated music performed by brilliant musicians. None more brilliant than Jacob.
I’m still not going to always listen to his music for love – that’s okay, it’s not all for me. I will continue to listen to it, and here’s why: he’s one of us. When he asked if anyone in the audience was a musician, every person I could see raised their hand. He is making music for my tribe, and he is making it out of deep love for what music can do to connect us to each other.
His music actually made more sense to me performed live – the six musicians breathed more than music might when performed all by oneself. (He mentioned in passing, near the end, that every note we heard had been created live.) His passion for the gifts of each musician, and each touring crew member, was palpable and resonated deeply with me as a musician and human.
In short, it comes down to this. However I respond to his music, I know how I respond to him. I just don’t think it’s possible not to love Jacob Collier after experiencing a concert like the one I went to. Love, in every way, was the message and the overarching feeling.
When asked for a comparison to Jacob Collier as a musical mind, Herbie Hancock is said to have replied, “Maybe Stravinsky?” I’d rather compare him to Pablo Picasso. Picasso allegedly had mastered the classical styles of painting by his late-teens, only to abandon them and create entire new styles of painting and profoundly influencing 20th century art. Surely his introduction of Cubism wasn’t immediately welcomed – even now, we don’t all quite know what to make of it – but in time his revolutions made him a hero and a visionary. Jacob Collier is somewhat like this, and I look forward to what he creates as he continues to grow into his thirties and beyond. Picasso supposedly said after viewing some children’s drawings, “When I was their age I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.” This is the journey Jacob is on.
If you can attend a concert, please do – even if you’re on the fence about his music, I am certain that you won’t be on the fence about his musicianship or about his deep humanity by the end of the concert. You can’t not love him.