JAMIE CULLUM
Catching Tales
Verve
Forecast
Read
the Jazzitude review of Jamie Cullum/Twentysomething
When last we encountered Jamie Cullum he had
already become a bona fide musical star in his native United
Kingdom and Europe, and sought to do the same in the U.S.
with his album Twentysomething. The main controversy,
if there was one, was that he was marketed to a jazz-pop
audience, leaving mainstream jazz fans and media in a quandary:
should they embrace the obviously talented Cullum even though
he was, at best, a loungey singer with some killer piano
chops, or criticize him and appear boorish?
Fortunately, Cullum has decided to clear the
air a bit. His new album, Catching Tales, is clearly
a singer/songwriter album with modern production values.
Sure, Cullum still throws off a nice piano solo when the
mood strikes him, but he has more in common with early Elton
John than with hardcore jazz pianists like, say, Brad Mehldau,
or even the crooner at the piano formula utilized by Peter
Cincotti and, a decade ago, by Harry Connick Jr. The good
news is that Cullum is a damned good singer/songwriter.
The importance of this little fact can hardly be underestimated
given the fact that all but a couple of the fourteen songs
featured here are penned by Jamie, either alone or in collaboration
with others. He’s a surprisingly mature songwriter,
and he’s a pretty good singer, too. In addition, the
overall musical content of Catching Tales is high,
so one need not feel guilty about liking it, regardless
of one’s usual musical taste.
Cullum opens with a salvo of three really
great originals that immediately establish his ability to
handle this kind of project. “Get Your Way,”
the opener, is hit single material, with its Dan “The
Automator” Nakamura (Gorrillaz) programming, beats,
and production. In addition, the song utilizes elements
of the Allen Toussaint-penned “Get Out of My Life
Woman” recorded by Joe Williams. Find me another artist
of Cullum’s age who would even know of that record.
Jamie plays Moog, guitar, and piano on the track, but it’s
definitely his piano that catches the ear. Cullum does some
nice guitar work on the next track, “London Skies,”
and it’s a really beautiful little song that recalls
the pop music of a different era, the early 1970s. Producer
Stewart Levine does a great job of multi-layering Cullum’s
voice, creating a sound palette that is both familiar and
yet not clichéd. “Photograph” really
recalls the singer/songwriter formula of the ‘70s,
with Cullum initially accompanied only by his piano. It’s
the hooky chorus that really draws attention, though. When
Cullum sings “When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary
life/I see so much magic/though I missed it at the time”
it’s a revelation. Yes, this kid is really, really
good at what he does.
He allows us to catch our breath with one
of his idiosyncratic covers, “I Only Have Eyes for
You.” If anything could turn this song into a hit
with the twentysomething crowd, Cullum’s dreamy version
would be the one to do it. ‘Take that!’ Cullum
seems to be saying to his critics, and indeed it is impossible
to imagine anyone else on the current popular music scene
being able to be both respectful and innovative in covering
a song like this. Getting back to his own material, Cullum
has a great deal of musical breadth, covering fusionary
pop/jazz on “Mind Trick,” pop balladry on “21st
Century Kid,” alternative pop on “Catch the
Sun,” blues on “7 Days to Change Your Life,”
and funky gospel-infused rock on “Back to the Ground.”
That’s a lot of ground, and Cullum manages to negotiate
most of it very well indeed.
Not that Cullum is foolproof as a songwriter.
A few songs slow down the proceedings and grate a bit. For
example, “Nothing I Do” is a bit of a throwaway,
both lyrically and musically, and one can’t help but
feel that Cullum could sometimes use a good editor. But
there aren’t many such moments on Catching Tales,
and with fourteen tracks in one hour that’s a pretty
good track record.
