"It's been a long time," said Jay Kay. "Sometimes I find myself sitting at home thinking to myself, 'I wonder what it is I do?' " If it's any consolation, Jay, we do too. What is it that has made this geezer from Ealing, who one minute sounds like Stevie Wonder and the next like the lost Jackson sister, such a huge global star?
Well, Jay does have a big personality, and several interesting hats to prove it, but it's surely not that. It can't be his devotion to fast cars or to Denise Van Outen either - so it must be his music.
Never underestimate the power of a good groove. His last album, Travelling Without Moving, sold seven million copies, amazing for what was simply retreaded seventies jazz funk, a Ford Capri given Starsky and Hutch stripes and a pair of postmodern furry dice.
It mightn't be terribly original, but it is great stuff to do the ironing to or to boogie your way softly to blissed out chemical oblivion of a Friday night.
Whatever Jamiroquai's true appeal, it surely can't be Jay's stage presence. OK, he admitted to being nervous about touring again after two years writing songs and notching up speeding fines - and he does have a little-boy-lost winsomeness - but his ladder-than-thou witticisms went down like farts in a friary. If only Denise were here she'd soothe my nerves, he said. She might even have got her bountiful breasts out for the delectation of you fine young men - although that's not quite how he put it. "What am I saying? What am I on?" he asked. Only Lucozade unfortunately.
His musings on the Kosovan conflict where equally ham fisted. "There just ordinary people like us - they drive cars, have girls, have TVs."
Better to let your music do the talking. Especially when it is as good as it is on his new album, Synkronized. Jay and Jamiroquai are moving on, getting smarter and more complex, so much so that the faithful took a while to warm to some of the new songs. Supersonic, Black Capricorn Day and Planet Home more than hint at an artist who is finding his own voice now and is no longer content to be the best ventriloquist on the block.
Jamiroquai play Manchester Evening News Centre tonight, Birmingham NEC on Saturday and tour till June 20
