Music, Creativity & Mental Health: Jake Isaac

This Music, Creativity & Mental Health podcast is with Jake Isaac, who is a Manchester-based, multi-instrumentalist with a distinctive style as a singer-songwriter fusing soul, jazz and rock. He’s had a stellar career having worked with and supported a diverse range of artists from Sting, India Arie, Ella Eyre, Paloma Faith, Lake Street Dive, Joan As Police Woman, Angus and Julia Stone, Tori Kelly and Elton John. This was a really stimulating discussion and you’ll see what a delightful, gentle and thoughtful man Jake is. Themes in this conversation included: the central role of one’s ‘internal antenna’ or intuition in the creative process; how Jake’s managed a happy medium in terms of family and wellbeing, not compromising his music and learning how to be content with what he has; his advice to musicians to be true to their creative identity, not just to copy others; the spiritual and sacred aspects of music; the role of highs and lows, including suffering in making art authentic and relevant; the centrality of the African philosophy of Ubuntu or ‘I am because we are’ in Jake’s whole approach; and his advice to young artists to both diversify and to get enough rest to sustain and stimulate creativity. It was a wonderfully diverse and well-humoured conversation, and I hope you love it too.