Creativity Quote by Jay Kay

There’s a quiet flex buried in Jay Kay’s shrugging pragmatism: the line pits the slick efficiency of the studio against the messy, irreplaceable chemistry of a real band. “I could just go round and use session musicians” gestures at an industry norm - hire the best players, get pristine takes, keep it moving. It’s also a reminder that celebrity frontmen can treat musicians like interchangeable parts. Kay swats that away, not with lofty ideals, but with the unglamorous logistics of touring: the studio can be modular; the stage can’t.

The phrase “setting up a band for live” is doing a lot of work. Live performance isn’t merely reproducing recordings; it’s stamina, trust, quick problem-solving, and a shared muscle memory built through repetition and near-disasters. Session musicians can be brilliant and still not be your people - not the ones who know your cues when a monitor dies or the crowd demands an extra chorus.

Then he lands the emotional payload in a very British idiom: “Derrick has been with me for donkey’s years.” It’s affectionate, slightly comic, anti-mythmaking. Kay isn’t selling genius; he’s selling loyalty, continuity, and the idea that Jamiroquai’s groove is a relationship as much as a sound. In a culture that fetishizes the lone auteur, this is a small argument for the band as infrastructure: the long-running collaboration that keeps a pop brand human.