
About this episode
Jacob Collier discusses his unique musical approach and improvisation with Charlie and Sam Sanders.
Jacob Collier is a rare musician: an expert in so many musical languages (western harmony, negative harmony, microtonalism) and a phenomenal communicator about music. He's something like an Ambassador for Music, traveling the world and getting thousands of people, musicians and non-musicians alike, to sing in his audience choirs. Live at On Air Fest, this conversation, catches Jacob between projects. Last year he released The Light for Days , a comparatively minimalist collection of songs written on his special five-string guitar, a quiet turn after the massive Djesse quadrilogy, which featured over 50 collaborators from Herbie Hancock to Anoushka Shankar and wove hundreds of thousands of audience choir voices into the recordings. Given that Jacob is always improvising with the best collaborators, Charlie wanted one of his own own. Five minutes before the show, Charlie spotted Sam Sanders, co-host of Vibe Check and host of the Sam Sanders Show on KCRW, and asked him onstage. Sam's a musician and one of the great interviewers, and he showed how improvising in conversation is just as essential as it is in music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People in this episode
Host: Charlie
Guests: Jacob Collier, Sam Sanders
Topics covered
- music
- improvisation
- audience participation
- collaboration
- musical languages
Keywords
- Jacob Collier
- music
- improvisation
- audience choirs
- The Light for Days
- Djesse
- On Air Fest
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: On Air Fest, KCRW
Books & works: The Light for Days, Djesse
More episodes of Switched on Pop
- Paul McCartney went back to Liverpool for something new to say · June 9, 2026 · 43 min
- How a sci-fi dystopia became a personal utopia (ft. Arc Iris) · June 5, 2026 · 13 min
- MUNA's end of the world dance party · June 2, 2026 · 54 min
- Drake's Slop Era · May 26, 2026 · 55 min
- Kacey Musgraves walks country’s borderlands · May 19, 2026 · 40 min
- Two countries at war. Rostam’s 'American Stories' belongs to both. · May 15, 2026 · 55 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Switched on Pop podcast page.