Upcoming Gigs

Having weathered a non-stop, whirlwind schedule for the past three years, dynamic British singer, songwriter, and pianist Jamie Cullum could have easily taken some well-earned time off in 2005. The 26-year-old's Verve debut, Twentysomething, was a worldwide smash last year, selling over three million copies (including nearly 400,000 in the States) and garnering a Grammy nomination. But instead of cooling his jets and catching some ZZZs, Jamie kept doing what he loves best: Making music, and recording a new album, Catching Tales.

Not that he deliberately reacted against the increased popularity of revisiting the great songbooks, either. "I just had loads of ideas and loads of good songs floating around and I fancied doing them. I put as much of myself into the arrangement of a song as I do into the writing of one though. I just had this burning desire this time to want to write… but I would also think I failed if I didn’t get just as much of myself through an arrangement of someone else's song."

Catching Tales also featured singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, a collaborator on one of Jamie's own favourite new tracks, the sublime "Back To The Ground." "It's a classic touring song about when you get home and you readjust to life," he remembers. "We polished off a bottle of wine and jammed this blues song. He got on the guitar, I got on the Wurlitzer and we wrote the song within an hour. Ed was so inspirational, his impact is far more than just that one song, and I definitely want to continue to work with him."

Born in Essex, and raised in Wiltshire, Jamie Cullum was obsessed with all types of music from an early age: rock, hip-hop, acid jazz, blues. He discovered jazz as a teenager, via artists like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, but also showed an interest in the groundbreaking Steely Dan albums purchased by his brother Ben (who plays bass throughout Catching Tales). While studying English at college, he began working as a singer-pianist anywhere he could get a gig: on cruise ships, in pubs, even wedding receptions.

Here he crafted the explosive on-stage persona (captured on the 2004 DVD Live at Blenheim Palace) that would win him accolades in The New York Times and Variety in the years that followed. When Universal Classics & Jazz snatched up the rising talent in the spring of 2003, and sent him into the studio to make Twentysomething, he was ready for the rigors – and joys – that waited ahead.

Jamie Cullum continues to redefine where the parameters of pop, and jazz – indeed, all musical genres – are drawn. "At first I didn't think certain songs had a place in what I was doing with jazz, but I've realized that everything does, and that reaffirms my belief that jazz is the greatest platform to do whatever you want. People ask why I play jazz. It's because you can take it to so many different places. You can embrace dance music, rock, pop music, classical, funk, everything… And I touch on all those things in this record."

2006 was a fantastic year for Jamie, visiting 43 countries on tour including Japan, America and Australia. 2007 saw Jamie take some well deserved time out and now he is in the studio working on the follow-up to Catching Tales, due for release early next year.