Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum plus special guest Corinne Bailey Rae

Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum plus special guest Corinne Bailey Rae perform on 17th June
For one night only, Blenheim Palace will play host to a co-headline performance of global jazz superstars Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum, as well as a special guest performance from singer songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae on Saturday 17th June. The setting for this truly one off occasion will take place in the stunning grounds of Blenheim Palace, within the palace's Great Court.

Returning to Nocturne, Gregory Porter is a talent that spans all ages. A timeless voice that is equally suited to a small jazz bar in his hometown of Sacramento, as it is to the Great Court. With his new album 'Take Me To The Alley' as stunning as anything he's done before, this Grammy winner is now a global superstar.

Co-headlining this concert, Jamie Cullum - a true icon of the UK jazz scene. Whether it's his weekly show for BBC Radio 2, intimate recordings for The Song Society or headline performances at festivals around the world, Jamie is an incredible musician.

Also performing is Corinne Bailey Rae; the Yorkshire born songwriter 2006 with the enchanting 'Like A Star' and chart topping 'Put Your Records On'. Following the huge success of her new album 'The Heart Speaks in Whispers' last year, she tops off an incredible line up of talent for this special evening.

Whilst Cullum makes his first return to Blenheim Palace since his career-defining, sell-out concert in 2004, Porter returns following his show with Van Morrison at the first Nocturne in 2015 and Bailey Rae will make her debut at the world heritage site fresh off the back of a global tour in 2016.


Tickets are on sale on Thursday 16th but for a limited time you can get your exclusive presale tickets now.

Jamie Cullum Wants You To Hear These Jazz Tunes

Jamie Cullum, a popular jazz musician, shares his top tracks of the moment.

McVirn Etienne/Courtesy of the artist

MAY 23, 2015 2:03 AM ET
When pianist Jamie Cullum came to NPR's studios earlier this year, his love and appreciation for great music was electrifying. Cullum, the U.K.'s best-selling contemporary jazz artist, also hosts his own jazz show on BBC Radio 2.

Cullum recently joined NPR's Scott Simon to share some of the music that's caught his attention. His picks — London singer ESKA, English group Polar Bear and Belgian vocalist Melanie De Biasio — all embrace both classic jazz sounds and contemporary electronic elements. Hear the conversation at the audio link above, or listen to each song in its entirety below.

ESKA, 'Rock Of Ages'

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/23/408558784/jamie-cullum-wants-you-to-hear-these-jazz-tunes?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr

Interview: Jamie Cullum

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

I love writing the "Track Record" column for Wall Street Journal/Europe, which is based in London. The point of the column is to interview artists to see what obscure albums most influenced them. There are always surprises, and I'm constantly being turned on to music that escaped my radar.

Case in point is my interview with jazz singer-songwriter and pianist Jamie Cullum in today's "Off Duty" section of the Europe edition (go here). My challenge to Cullum was tell me about albums that have inspired him to take risks. I was familiar with Money Jungle but not the rest. Perhaps the most fascinating of the bunch was David Axelrod's psychedelic dance rock-fusion album, Song of Innocence, from 1968. Hear for yourself...

  

In the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal today, my interview with comedian Mike & Molly's Billy Gardell on growing up in Pittsburgh, moving to Florida at age 11 and how the relocation helped shape his comedy (go here). Billy is a naturally funny guy. When he called me right on time for our chat, I said, "Billy, wow, a comedian who's right on time?." Without missing a beat, he said, "Yeah, you're right. Let me call you back." [Photo of actor-comedian Billy Gardell at his home in Los Angeles by Annie Tritt for The Wall Street Journal]

Novelist Richard Ford is from Arkansas, but believe it or not, in the early 1980s he fell in love with suburban New Jersey and became a Bruce Springsteen fan. We talked about his favorite song by the Boss for the weekend's Review section (go here).

And finally, in case you missed my essay on rock 'n' roll disc jockey Alan Freed, go here. The King of Rock and Roll wasn't a Boy Scout when it came to payola, but he has been demonized for far too long. It's time to celebrate what he accomplished for the music business, turning dozens of artists into household names and helping the Civil Rights Movement gain momentum. Freed also was a champion of teens and individualism at a time when teens were viewed as vermin unless they conformed and looked and behaved like their parents. There was no youth culture then.

Here's Part 1 of an Alan Freed radio broadcast...

And here's Part 2...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Jamie Cullum: "Music was my retreat from the crippling handicap that being a teenager is."

Written by EMMA HIGGINBOTHAM
When Jamie Cullum plays the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Friday, don’t be surprised if you hear some rather overenthusiastic whoops and squeals.

Not that the jazz supremo doesn’t deserve them. Far from it.

With his beguiling mix of earthy, jazzy pop, super-smooth vocals and puppylike on-stage energy, even the most restrained audience member would struggle not to squeal at Mr Cullum like a hyperventilating teen.

No, the explanation is a little simpler than that: “I’ve got quite a few friends who live in Cambridge, so there’ll be an unnatural amount of joke screaming when I play because all my friends will be there. It’ll be like ‘Oh my God, Jamie!’” he squeaks, “and ‘You’re a GOD!” That kind of thing. Heheh.” It may be first thing on a Monday morning, but Cullum is in a jovial mood – not bad for a sleep-deprived father of a baby (Margot, 6 months) and a toddler (Lyra, 2), let alone someone who’s deep in rehearsals for a hectic tour. He’s playing everywhere from Belfast to Bordeaux, promoting his sixth and latest album, Momentum - but there’s bound to be surprises, as Cullum never has a set-list.

“There’ll be moments of really deep jazz, some pop moments as well – but it could go any way, really. I walk on stage and try to make it a fresh feast every night. Not even the band knows what I’m going to play.” Crikey, isn’t that a bit exciting for them? “Yeah, but they’re used to it,” he shrugs. “If you rely on the same tricks every night, it can be like you’re going through the motions; a bit like theatre in some ways. And actually I really thrive on spontaneity on stage. It’s exhausting, but it keeps it fresh.”

Growing up in Wiltshire, the son of musicloving parents, Cullum took up the guitar and piano as a boy. His talent was unmistakable, yet he never learned to read music: “I just was kind of terrible at it,” he says sheepishly.

“But I’ve always found it easy to play things that I hear. Not necessarily note for note, but I can work something out just by hearing it.” At school, he was “into everything” musically - particularly hip-hop which, with its plethora of samples, introduced Cullum to the sounds and styles of an earlier era: “It was a real link to old soul, and funk, and jazz music.

But I was never the kind of kid who walked around school in a trilby, wishing I was living in the 60s,” he adds quickly. “I was going to raves and concerts with everyone else, I just had very open ears from a young age.

“When I got home from school, the first thing I would do was go to the piano or the guitar, or put music on. It was my retreat from the crippling handicap that being a teenager is.
My crutch was music.” Did he ever think he’d be famous? “No, I did not!” he laughs. “I had no designs on fame.

Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Whats-on-leisure/Choice/Jamie-Cullum-Music-was-my-retreat-from-the-crippling-handicap-that-being-a-teenager-is-20131024060033.htm#ixzz2ijZfekbJ

Cullum: Fatherhood inspires music

Jamie Cullum has revealed that becoming a father will "seep" into his songs.

The jazz star is releasing his fifth album in May, and admitted that some of the tracks on there may have been inspired by the new chapter in his life. He and wife Sophie Dahl welcomed daughter Lyra in March 2011, and the model-chef is pregnant with the couple's second child.

"I'm not quite ready for lullabies but that kind of thing seeps into everything you do. You can't escape it. It may not seem immediately obvious at first, but under the skin of the songs, it is that feature of course," he said.

The 33-year-old has no plans to include his child on his songs like Alicia Keys with son Egypt, saying: "I haven't quite got around to that yet."

Jamie has already collaborated with Roots Manuva on Love For Sale.

"It was amazing. I'd grown up listening to him in a lot of ways - he was the king of that particular UK scene for years and years, and is a great presence in British music. It was a dream to have him on the track," he said.

"I was amazed when he agreed to do it but I think he's one of those people who does what he feels and doesn't think whether it's correct or what he wants to say. He's a hero to us all."

As for the forthcoming new album, he added: "I've done more of my own songwriting this time. It was amazing fun to put it together. I put it together in my studio so it feels like this thing that I lovingly crafted in between being a parent."

Read more: http://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/showbiz-news/2013/03/01/cullum-fatherhood-inspires-music/

Jamie Cullum started off as a heavy metal fan

The jazz pianist and singer was initially drawn to an altogether darker music as a teenager, and thinks it gave him a good base to move on to jazz and its complicated forms and structures from.

He told The Huffington Post: "A lot of the music I fell in love with first was hard rock and heavy metal, and 15 - Nirvana, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix.

"I saw a great musicality in it, and I graduated to jazz through that, because they were also playing fast and very technically. It was never about the front man, always the guitar solo."

The 33-year-old singer said when he did start listening to jazz, he bought into the look and lifestyle fully.

He added: "I was an absolute idiot, wearing polo-necks, reading Kerouac, watching Woody Allen movies, and jazz fitted right into all of that.

"My interest in that whole world became very genuine, but perhaps started off a bit affected a mixture of right and wrong reasons. I was always drawn to non-commercial music, perhaps pathologically so. Now I can love R Kelly and not be embarrassed."

Jamie also talked about his respect for friend Amy Winehouse, who died unexpectedly at her home in London in July this year.

He added:  "She was someone I came up with, and I was around her and her music so much, and heard so much of it in its gestational period.

"I remember when she was supporting me, her debut album, 'Frank', came out and I said, ‘She’s going to outsell every single one of us by millions and millions one day,' and it was a rare occasion when I was proved right.

"She was one of those people I was around who made me realise how much work I had to do, and still do. And she’d tell me that as well!”

http://www.musicrooms.net/rock-and-pop/42245-jamie-cullum-fell-in-love-with-hard-rock.html

JAMIE CULLUM and GRACE KELLY KICK-OFF

JAMIE CULLUM and GRACE KELLY KICK-OFF

CAREFUSION NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL* FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 8:00 PM, INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HALL OF FAME at NEWPORT CASINO

Cullum Also to Perform at Fort Adams State Park on August 7
Sneak Preview: Jamie Cullum to Perform on The Bachelorette on ABC - Monday, May 31, 8:00pm

NEWPORT, RI, May 27, 2010 - British singing and piano sensation Jamie Cullum brings his eclectic mix of jazz, pop and rock-influenced music to the opening night celebration of the Jamie Cullum CareFusion Newport Jazz Festival* on Friday, August 6, at 8:00 pm at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino. The evening opens with the saxophonist/singer Grace Kelly.

The festival continues August 7 and 8 at Fort Adams State Park; Cullum is set to perform on the Fort Stage on Saturday. Tickets and more information are available at http://www.newportjazzfest.net/.

Get a sneak preview of Jamie Cullum in performance when he appears on The Bachelorette on Monday, May 31, at 8:00pm on ABC. For more information, visit http://abc.go.com/shows/the-bachelorette.

Jamie Cullum, who has played guitar and piano since age eight, developed an avid interest in jazz from his older brother. He was inspired by piano icons Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck and spent some of his formative years living in Paris, where he honed his abilities performing in jazz clubs. Cullum will perform selections from The Pursuit, his first album in four years, as well as some of his favorite jazz standards and his own originals.

His latest music embraces the full range of his diverse talents and far-flung musical passions. While it covers more stylistic ground than anything he's done previously, the album offers the same musical fluency, emotional commitment and lyrical wit that helped to make Cullum's prior releases Twentysomething and Catching Tales international crossover hits selling more than four million combined copies worldwide. He recorded his first album, Heard It All Before, at age 19, followed by Pointless Nostalgic.

After spending two years touring in support of Catching Tales, Cullum retreated from the spotlight and spent much of the next two years working on a variety of musical and non-musical endeavors. He and his older brother and frequent collaborator, Ben, joined forces for a dance music project, "BC vs. JC," that found the brothers creating melodic dance music in clubs across England.

Jamie also contributed to albums for Pharrell Williams, the Count Basie Orchestra, Japan's Soil & Pimp Sessions, Norway's Beady Belle and France's Camille, as well as spent time as a Goodwill Ambassador to Ethiopia for UNICEF. Cullum's highest profile side projects saluted his courtship with Hollywood, beginning with the animated Disney feature Meet The Robinsons, in which Jamie was the singing voice of Frankie The Frog.

He followed with his vocal on the Golden Globe-nominated "Best Original Song" from the John Cusack film Grace Is Gone, and culminated in his co-writing and performing with Clint Eastwood for the Golden Globe-nominated "Best Original Song" from 2008's Gran Torino. Now, he's back on the road celebrating The Pursuit at concert across Europe and the United States.

Eighteen-year-old Grace Kelly's career is definitely on the fast track. Wynton Marsalis (who Grace Kelly performs on the Fort Adams Stage on Sunday) was so impressed with her three-night stand as guest of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in November 2008 that he invited her to join the ensemble at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Harry Connick, Jr. heard her in a master class and invited her to sit in with his band and she has been a featured guest on NPR's Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland.

In addition, Grace has received numerous honors including The Boston Music Awards' "Outstanding Jazz Act," WCVB-TV's "Five Bostonians to Watch," Downbeat Critics Poll's youngest ever "Alto Saxophone Rising Stars," the Boston Phoenix's "Best Jazz Act in Boston" in the 2009 Best Music Poll (for the second consecutive year) and three ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award. To this astonishing list of credits, Kelly adds Mood Changes, the fifth release on her PAZZ label.

The album mixes six standards with four Kelly originals. She is particularly excited about the strides that Mood Changes reveals in her band leading skills. "There's nothing like playing my own music with my own band," she acknowledges. She also enjoyed critically acclaimed success on her previous album, Gracefulee, which has dominated the DownBeat Student Awards over the past four years. A student at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Grace enjoys "... playing all the time and just living music all day." Her College is also represented at the festival by the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Septet on Saturday afternoon.

George Wein made history 56 years ago when he started the festival era with the Newport Jazz Festival. Along with his company, New Festival Productions, LLC, Wein continues to present the best in established and rising stars, this year including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea Freedom Band with Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride & Roy Haynes, Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Marsalis, Maria Schneider Orchestra, Chris Botti, Jason Moran's Bandwagon, Jon Faddis Quartet, Gretchen Parlato, Fly, Julian Lage Group, JD Allen Trio, David Binney Third Occasion Quartet, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and many more.

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION
All tickets are available in Newport at the festival office at Empire Tea & Coffee, 22 Broadway (Tuesdays and Fridays Noon - 4:00 pm and Thursdays 2:00 - 7:00 pm); general admission tickets for Fort Adams State Park concerts also are available at the Newport Visitor Information Center, 23 America's Cup Avenue. Festival tickets are available on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or by telephone at (800) 745-3000; service charges apply. For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call the festival hotline at (401) 848-5055. For complete festival information, log on to http://www.newportjazzfest.net/

The 2010 CareFusion Newport Jazz Festival features
FRIDAY, AUGUST 6 ~ 8:00 pm
International Tennis Hall of Fame, 194 Bellevue Avenue
Jamie Cullum / Grace Kelly

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7 ~ 11:30 am - 7:00 pm
Fort Adams State Park, Harrison Avenue
Chick Corea Freedom Band with Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride & Roy Haynes / Jamie Cullum / Maria Schneider Orchestra / Ahmad Jamal / Jazz Mafia's Brass, Bows & Beats / Anat Cohen / Newport All-Stars with Howard Alden, Randy Brecker, Randy Sandke & George Wein and special guest Bob Brookmeyer / Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing / Darcy James Argue's Secret Society with special guest Bob Brookmeyer / Fly: Jeff Ballard, Larry Grenadier & Mark Turner / JD Allen Trio / Julian Lage Group / Trio Da Paz with Harry Allen / Rez Abbasi's Acoustic Quartet / Berklee Global Jazz Institute Septet

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8 ~ 11:30 am - 7:00 pm
Fort Adams State Park, Harrison Avenue
Herbie Hancock / Chris Botti / Wynton Marsalis / Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra / Amina Figarova / Conrad Herwig's Latin Side of Herbie / Jon Faddis / Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound / David Binney Third Occasion Quartet / Marshall Allen-Matthew Shipp-Joe Morris / Jason Moran's Bandwagon with Jenny Scheinman / Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy / Ben Allison Band with Jenny Scheinman, Shane Endsley, Steve Cardenas & Rudy Royston / Gretchen Parlato / Matt Wilson Quartet / Dave Douglas & Brass Fantasy.
Carolyn McClair mcclairpr@aol.com

Cullum comes by his musical pedigree honestly....

By: CATHERINE KUSTANCZY
Published: March 14th 2010

Jamie Cullum Pic: UniversalThe pint-sized English jazz musician, coming off a of wildly received, near sold-out concert at Massey Hall, engaged in a keynote question and answer session at the Royal York Hotel during the week-long music industry hoedown. With four albums under his belt and numerous awards and citations, Cullum is Britain's top-selling jazz artist ever. With his Beatles-esque haircut, translucent skin, and natty suit, Cullum came off every inch the 21st century musician, liberally throwing in references, both verbal and musical, to hip-hop, pop, metal, and classic jazz sounds.

Cullum comes by his musical pedigree honestly; his paternal grandmother was a Jewish refugee from Prussia who performed in Berlin nightclubs, and he has referred to her in interviews as his “cultural icon.” As a child, Cullum voraciously consumed every ounce of musical inspiration he could find, living on a diet of Metallica and Slayer (he told the assembled crowd at the Royal York that he’d “fast-forward to the guitar solos”) and later Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Raised in the English countryside, he would bicycle to the annual Glastonbury festival, soaking up a variety of styles and sounds that would later be manifest in his own unique work (and later showcased at Glastonbury itself, in 2004 and 2009).

Though known primarily as a jazz musician, Cullum’s sound is much wider than a simple regurgitation of standards. He showed off his uncanny ability to mix sounds to the CMW crowd, doing an organic mash-up of the old classic “Singin in the Rain” (made famous by Gene Kelly) with Rihanna’s monster-pop-hit “Umbrella.” The result was dreamy and contemplative, and a wonderful showcase of Cullum’s deft ear for sounds and rhythms.

This predilection for rhythm made itself known when lugubrious host Ralph Simon questioned Cullum about his use of a stompbox, something the English singer/songwriter was inspired to start using after seeing Spearhead frontman Michael Franti use one in a live show. Essentially just a wooden box with a microphone inside of it, Cullum frequently used it to bash out a beat, creating a kind of bouncy rhythmic interplay between melodic and percussive elements. Cullum also wasn’t shy about tapping on, in, and around the piano itself, using his bare hands to slap and smack the instrument back to its percussive roots. “Me and the piano are always in an argument,” he confessed.
http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/8024/Jamie_Cullum_Rocked_CMW/

Jamie Cullum And 'The Pursuit' Of Jazz, New And Old

Jamie Cullum, pianist and singer, has sold more jazz records in the U.K. than any other British artist. Since his album Twentysomething was released in 2003, he's sold more than 4 million records and been nominated for a Grammy and two Golden Globes. Now 30, he's released a new album, The Pursuit.

On the new record, Cullum continues to be a pioneer. He writes his own jazz numbers, in addition to covering the standards. It's this blending of the old with the new that attracts many young fans to his music. All I've tried to do on this album is try to embrace that part of me that is a young man who does go out and do young-people things," Cullum says. "I've tried to try to inject that in my love of music of the past."

He also tackles some pop songs, like Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music."
"Doing covers of new songs in a kind of crazy way is nothing particularly new," he says, "but this is me trying to channel my understanding of Bill Evans, Thelonius Monk and Herbie Hancock with an understanding — and a love — of great modern pop."

According to Cullum, he comes from a "somewhat musical" family. His grandmother played guitar in bars in Berlin before she fled Nazi Germany, and his grandfather played violin. His parents are less inclined, but sang in church choirs and strummed the occasional guitar. Cullum, however, cites his brother Ben Cullum — a musician, composer and producer — as his primary musical inspiration. Their collaborations, including the song "Music Is Through," are featured on The Pursuit.

Cullum is a big fan of the theater and recently wrote the score to the stage version of When Harry Met Sally. He says he chose the title of his new album because he continues to pursue new frontiers in music. "As a musician, you never get to the finish line," he says. "There are goals along the way, but you never finish it. It is this constant pursuit, one that I wake up every day wanting to get better at and wanting to make better music."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124577572&ft=1&f=10002

Jamie Cullum: Leaping At Monterey Jazz

by Becca Pulliam, JazzSet
As a child in the U.K., Jamie Cullum was obsessed with music from an early age, grew up with rock and pop and is now a student of jazz. He has just a touch of Sinatra in his voice, and he's all over the piano — under it, inside it, leaping off of it, always in motion, yet totally focused — there's joy in that contradiction.

Here, he tells the audience that they'll be getting some premieres at the Monterey Jazz Festival, rehearsed only the day before, wrapped into a three-piece medley about rejection.

"I thought I'd sing about getting dumped and dumping people, like a suite of music," Cullum says. "I want to start off with one of the great standards, called 'Blame It on My Youth,' which I love very much, a great tune. And then we're going to follow it, segue neatly into a fine artist who I love called Lauryn Hill, and she made a song called 'The Ex Factor,' which is all about what it's like to live near your ex and how you treat each other. And then I'm going to finish the little suite with a tune that I wrote with my bandmates back in England; it's called 'You and Me Are Gone.' The idea is a song that sounds like the theme from The Jungle Book, but it's about a break-up, so check it out."

Other choices come from his albums. Released in 2003, Cullum's autobiographical Twentysomething sold two and a half million copies in just a few months. He released Catching Tales in 2005, toured to support it for a couple years, took time off to DJ and have fun, then recorded his next project. Coming out in March, The Pursuit opens with a track that features the Count Basie Orchestra.

Cullum is so refreshing and entertaining, it seems to mean even more when he slows down and sings a standard. "People who have seen me play live and read things I've written will already know that I've got a very eclectic taste, but singing a song like 'What a Difference a Day Makes' — well, it is one of the hardest things you can do," Cullum says.

Credits: Our onsite recording engineer is Ron Davis with A Wing & A Prayer. The Monterey Jazz Festival executive director is Tim Jackson.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113165244&sc=nl&cc=jn-20100221

Jamie Cullum Releases Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down for Valentine's Day....

JAMIE CULLUM RELEASES LOVE AIN'T GONNA LET YOU DOWN FOR VALENTINE'S DAY EP AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON ITUNES NEW ALBUM, THE PURSUIT OUT MARCH 2 U.S. TOUR TO FOLLOW

Celebrate Valentine's Day with Jamie Cullum's Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down EP (Verve/UMe) released exclusively through iTunes on February 2, 2010. Featuring three songs of love from his upcoming album The Pursuit, out March 2, 2010, the EP highlights two Cullum originals "Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down" & "I Think, I Love," and his heartfelt take on the Stephen Sondheim standard "Not While I'm Around" from "Sweeney Todd."

"Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down" is a song that ties up Cullum's album's over-arching theme in the lyric "the pursuit of love consumes us all." But for Cullum, the love he documents in The Pursuit is not just the romantic one but a love of music that shines out from every track.

Mixing modern influences with his love of jazz and timeless classics, no one can move from Cole Porter to Rihanna to epic dance tracks as boldly and deftly as Cullum does on The Pursuit. Cullum's genre-defying career has entertained an ever-growing fanbase across the globe since his Verve debut in 2004. The Pursuit builds on, and bursts through, Cullum's previous albums opening with the swinging sounds of the Count Basie Orchestra on the timeless "Just One Of Those Things" and ending with the 7-plus minute tour de force "Music Is Through."

The songs on The Pursuit began life at Cullum's London studio as well as in his kitchen before recording moved to Los Angeles. The bulk of the album was performed solely by Cullum and the album's producer Greg Wells (One Republic, Katy Perry, Mika) with a cross section of stellar talent fleshing out the songs including members of Beck's band and the horn section from Michael Jackson's Thriller.

One of the few touring artists who consistently sells out, Cullum starts his coast to coast U.S. tour with Verve labelmate Imelda May on March 4th in New York.

Tour Dates:
Mar 4 2010 The Town Hall, New York, NY
Mar 5 2010 The Keswick Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
Mar 6 2010 House Of Blues, Boston, MA
Mar 7 2010 9:30 Club, Washington. D.C.
Mar 9 2010 Massey Hall, Toronto, CANADA
Mar 12 2010 Cobb Energy Center, Atlanta, GA
Mar 13 2010 James K. Polk Theater, Nashville, TN
Mar 14 2010 Roberts Orpheum Theater, St. Louis, MO
Mar 16 2010 Park West, Chicago, IL
Mar 20 2010 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, CANADA
Mar 21 2010 The Moore Theatre, Seattle, CA
Mar 22 2010 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
Mar 23 2010 The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
Mar 25 2010 Avalon, Los Angeles, CA

Tickets now on sale for Jamie Cullum's March 14 show in St. Louis

Tickets are now on sale for the performance by singer/pianist Jamie Cullum on Sunday, March 14 at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre. Seats for Cullum's St. Louis show were first offered as premiums in a recent pledge drive by local PBS affiliate KETC, and are now available to the general public for $35 and $40 at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/
http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2009/12/tickets-now-on-sale-for-jamie-cullums.html  

Jamie Cullum to Release "The Pursuit" on March 2, 2010

FIRST SOLO RECORD IN FOUR YEARS

Verve Records is very excited to announce the release of Jamie Cullum's first solo record in four years. The record is called The Pursuit and is being released March 2, 2010. It's Cullum's fifth record in a genre-defying career that has entertained an ever-growing fanbase across the globe since his first Verve record was released in 2002. The title of the record is taken from Nancy Milford's classic novel, The Pursuit of Love, and the songs on it are wonderfully eclectic as always, mixing modern influences with his love of jazz and timeless standards. No one can move from Cole Porter to Rhianna to Aphex Twin as boldly and deftly as Cullum does on The Pursuit.

The making of The Pursuit was a marathon not a sprint. Having decided to take time off after two years touring 2005's Catching Tales and the juggernaut of praise and press that followed the previous album, 2003's Twentysomething, Cullum turned to other projects. “I took a whole year off," he says, “I played in other people's bands and worked with other artists, I DJ'd, made dance music with my brother and traveled." During this time he also built his own studio and earned himself a Golden Globe nomination for his co-write with Clint Eastwood of the title song for the film “Gran Torino."

All the songs on The Pursuit began life at his studio as well as in his kitchen before recording moved to Los Angeles for three months over the summer of 2008. While work there with producer and long-time associate Greg Wells proved productive, some of the work from the kitchen made it to the final product. Recording in LA meant changing the techniques and routines Cullum had developed on his previous records.

“I didn't want to make this album with my old band or my old producer," he says, “I needed to frighten myself." While many of the songs were put together by Wells and Cullum in the studio, a selection of stellar talent contributed their musicianship. Members of Beck's band joined the sessions while the horn section that played on Michael Jackson's Thriller also appear. “Getting out of your comfort zone is such a cliche for your third or fourth album," he says sincerely, “But, you know, it really worked."

Ten years on from his first self-funded release, Heard It All Before, Cullum is still pursuing new sounds and new ideas in his music. “We've had a lot of musicians who've arrived fully formed. When I made my first record it was a stab in the dark, something to sell at my wedding gigs." “I think I've come close to fully realizing what I should be with this record. I didn't know who I wanted to be when I was 19," he says.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=43297

Jamie Cullum - What A Difference A Day Made

Jamie Cullum....

Jamie has always been obsessed by Muscia since very young: Rock, Hip Hop, Acid Jazz, Blues, among others. Discovered the Jazz too early due to major references as Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock, but also showed interest in groups like Steely Dan Jamie learned to play the piano alone and while studying at the University began working as a pianist and singer, worked anywhere could, since the cruise weddings, bars, etc..
In 1999 released their first album together with some friends, Heard It All Before. Only 500 copies were made. After taking the course, launched the Album, Pointless Nostalgic, where most of the songs are covers of other well-known musicians, among them are George Gershwin and Thelonious Monk. As the first jazzista to mix with the other jazz rhythms such as pop, hip-hop and Latin nuances. Recreating old songs from jazz to names like Frank Sinatra and placing them in an absolutely new drapery, Jamie makes successfully in Europe and Asia, where more than covers emplaca success of his own authorship distributed on three CDs: "Pointless Nostalgic," " Twentysomething "and" Catching Tales. "
The young artists began to be recognized in Brazil due to the tracks "What a Difference a Day Made," track the novel "The Color of Sin" and "Mind Trick", music that was present in the track's novel "Beautiful Girls", later , His song "Our Day Will Come" was selected for the trail of "Pages of Life." The singer also has stakes in the "Domingão the Faustão" and "Program of OJ."
Although primarily a musician based in Jazz, Jamie Cullum is considered a crossover of styles, ie as a mixture of styles based on a single. For example, his first Album is quite Jazz while the second contains a little longer Pop culture Jamie is a musician with a bright future ahead. I heard two CDs of him and I was amazed by the quality and because of old songs being recorded with a new-style without losing the feature of music.
Credit > http://www.jazzerock.com/