Jacob Collier at Joni Mitchell, Quincy Jones and Grammys

In a category dominated by like Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, Jacob Collier is arguably the least famous musician nominated for this year’s album on Sunday’s 67. The Grammy Awards. Still, the English singer, songwriter, producer and multi -instrumentalist are actually a well -known challenger to Grammys’ flagship award: his dark horse technique for “Djesse Vol. 4 “Follows a previous album in the year nomination to 2020’s” Djesse Vol. 3, “Fighting the LPS of Post Malone, Dua Lipa and Coldplay on the 63rd Grammys. (Taylor Swift ended up winning that year of” folklore. ” ?

With performances by a large number of guests – among them Brandi Carlile, Michael McDonald, AnouShka Shankar, Shawn Mendes, Kirk Franklin and John Mayer – the scattered, yet intricate detailed “Djesse Vol. 4 ”Layer electronics and hand -played instruments when it mixes R&B, jazz, people and even a little death metal; The albums open, “100,000 votes“Contains footage of about so many audience members at Collier’s concerts, where he directs the crowd as a huge choir.

In addition to album of the year, Collier, 30, is up to another two grammys on Sunday’s show: Global Music Performance for “A cliff somewhere“And the event for a reproduction of” Bridge over Troubled Water “with John Legend and Tori Kelly. Collier discussed the album and his relationship with Joni Mitchell and deceased Quincy Jones on a recent afternoon in Los Angeles.

You have said that “Djesse Vol. 4 ”is the last installment in a four-album series. Did you always know that it would be the final?
I actually did. I had finished “in my room”, which is the first album I made, as a completely lonely mission – recorded, mixed, all of myself. So after that I crave cooperation. In a way, I wanted to make four different rooms, each dictated by another sonic environment. The first was like an orchestra record – very large and wide and kind of explosive. Vol. 2 was more folkey and singer-songwriter-y, with a less acoustic space than the first. Vol. 3, which was the quarantine album, was almost no place at all. That’s what happens in the dark, strange star field in your brain when you just collide things together.

And vol. 4?
For a long time, I didn’t know what it was about. But Touring Vol. 3, what I fell in love with was the audience. What I recognized in my fascination is that it felt the same in the earliest days, except that the voice I was more interested in was The Voice in mass rather than my own.

Among the nominees for the album of the Year, yours seem to share most with “New Blue Sun”, André 3000’s experimental jazz LP. But he has talked about the value of a beginner’s mind in his journey as a flute player, while I do not hear much naivety in your music.
I think part of the nature of a fourth album with four is that it will be a bit of an opus to what I have learned in the last 10 years making music. It’s different from “in my room”, which was a lot about naivety: I’ve never done this before. What happens when you make an album? Let’s find out. But this one is not a naive record. I wouldn’t say it is coming out of the blue.

Have you heard André’s album?
Yes. I think the value of this record in a fun way is not a musical value. And I can imagine that he would be okay with it. Songs have all these 10-word titles, as a diary post. I am refreshed by where not -Conformistic format of the mail is. It doesn’t make me want to make music, but it makes me want to think differently about my life. I wonder how he will feel about the record in 20 years. I’m curious about what he has learned from it. I’m also curious that voted for it. He is such a beloved and well -known figure, but in terms of what Grammys stands for, which is always a little hard to say, I wonder where he sits in it. I’m glad he’s in there because it’s unlike any other album in the category. It’s very “f – you” in a way. I love him for it.

I saw you playing piano with Joni Mitchell by Hollywood Bowl Last year. How did you become part of the Joni marmalade?
I met Brandi Carlile in 2021 when she was reviving Joni’s magic. Joni had been home alone – really, really fragile – and Brandi, who is just this amazing human being, had this vision of Joni Jams, where people come to Joni’s house and we sing Joni songs. So I went to Joni’s house and was definitely blown up to even be there. The wall with dulcimers from the 70s, the paintings on the doors – it was just incredible as a huge Joni fan. I did it and thought it was a one -off. I imagined that Joni was a little decline. But she is away from strength to strength. Then Brandi called me the beginning of last year and said, “Look, Jonis will sing on Grammys – will you be nearby?” We played “Both sides now“On the show, which then became Joni Jam in the Hollywood Bowl.

Some things about Joni’s musician have worsened: She doesn’t play much guitar anymore, and her voice is an octave lower than it was. But her wording is intact and that is when you know she is really a jazzer and that she is hung out with Wayne shorter. Every time you make a song, she sings a little early or a little late or a little elongated. And I think when she first realized that I was one of these people, we had a bit of a click. It was really amazing to give each other that freedom because many people in this band very religiously played her parts. And if they hadn’t been in the band, it would have fallen apart. You can’t just have Jonis in the band, you know? I had the joy to be brought in to decorate to play – to almost tease her up in the Jousting arena. I’ll never forget it.

Jacob Collier in Los Angeles.

(Annie Noelker/for Times)

The set list for the Bowl show was completely insane.
Insane! The first half was just us and said, “Joni, what do you want to do?” She was like “I want to play the deepest cuts.” And then the second half was more of the well -known tunes. She is at one point in her career where she could easily say, “I will put a bow on this and you will love it.” But she is still pushing.

Your mentor Quincy Jones died last year. Do you think something died with him? Something he did or stood for what we don’t want to see again?
The greatest gift I received from him was to see how he treated people. You do not create that kind of heritage without understanding how to reach people’s souls and hearts. I think we will not see a person with the combination of talent, bravery and humanity. Obviously, it’s in the music. But to be with him in the world, people would come up and say, “Quincy, you have done this and this and this,” and he always had a way of disarming them – to cut off the flow of decay and do it to a human interaction.

Do you have a favorite song or album of his?
One of the first tunes I’ve ever learned from Quincy’s is a song called “Razzamatazz“From“ The Dude. “Patti Austin sings it. It’s just a perfect piece of music – so funky and so fun.

“Just once“Is it for me from” The Dude. “What happens at the end –
Where it goes up a tone: (Singing) “Find a way to stay together …” It’s unreal. The thing at Quincy is that he understood the harmonious context of things like that because he had done it arranged. The song could easily have stayed in C-Major, but no-it has to rise. He was just the coolest.

What is your Stodgiest Musical Position?
I can be quite a stickler with tuning. I’ve explored microtonality, so on the one hand it’s like everything is in harmony, right? But sometimes I want to hear a brass sex or a string quartet play a piece of classical music perfectly in harmony with the piano, and I am like “it is such a shame because the piano in itself is not in harmony.”

Now that the “Djesse” project is complete, what will your next record be?
I don’t know yet. This is the first time I have not known in seven years – it’s a excitement for me. Many of the things I have built and made in the past have been big, “100,000 voices” as the biggest example. Now that I’ve done it, I think my brain is craving for smaller containers. What if I made a record just on piano or just on guitar?

If it can’t be you, who would you enjoy watching Win Album of the Year?
I think Beyoncé’s record is brave and I praise people for it. She couldn’t have made this record or she could have done something more straightforward. I think it was brave and I think it came from a place to really know what she wanted to say and really f – to say it. So I would be pretty stick to lose for Beyoncé.