An old soul in his 20s

What sort of music does a guy in his early 20s listen to? Perhaps some Maroon 5 or Simple Plan at home, some chill-out sounds in his car and perhaps a lot of Ogie Alcasid and Martin Nievera when he goes karaoke-singing. Only in a rare case will he listen to Miles Davis or Oscar Petersen. That was what Jamie Cullum was doing when he was 13 and now at 23 he is acclaimed as the most exciting new thing in jazz.

Jamie deserves to be a big star. With the face of a little boy and unruly big hair, he looks no older than a teenager. In fact, he has been dubbed "Sinatra in Sneakers" because of his unique way with old favorites usually associated with the legendary Voice while living in jeans and rubber shoes. Jamie though transcends the interpreter category. While many singers – think Michael Bublé – a lot of them much, much older than he is, limiting themselves to singing the old tunes, Jamie sings, arranges, plays the piano and composes songs that could have been written during the Sinatra era.

Stardom is now within Jamie’s reach. The media recently made much of the fact that the kid from Wiltshire in the UK had been signed to a million-pound contract by the famous jazz label Verve. That may not seem like a lot given the salaries pop stars pull these days. It is most impressive though, when you consider the fact that Jamie has only one album to his credit, the adorable Pointless Romantic for the smaller but certainly excellent jazz label Candid and that his music is jazz, which does not sell as much as rock, pop or R&B.

Jamie Cullum Twentysomething is the first album released under this new label deal and I am happy to say Jamie more than lives up to expectations. I believe this is how Sinatra would sound had he belonged to this era. Gravelly but romantic, full of passion but cool, an old soul but a non-conformist with a razor-sharp edge. I will not be surprised if the ladies start falling all over him after listening to his songs. The combination of those looks and that sound can be very sexy. The guys though, somewhat jealous would want to sing like he does. And what a relief. They will not be twitted by their peers for also admiring his music like they did when they listened to Blue.

Like before, Jamie presents a variety of songs but all have been arranged to conform to his style. He has the standards that are surely the primary attractions to his buyers, What a Difference a Day Made, Old Devil Moon, I Could Have Danced All Night, Blame It On My Youth, But for Now, I Get a Kick Out of You with a bluesy, langourous Singin’ in the Rain, as the best of them all. I have never heard this song done this way before.

Then, because he is young and new in the business, he can make fearless choices. And look at what he has–Jamie has made swingers out of songs by Jimi Hendrix (Wind Cries Mary) and Jeff Buckely. Then there are the new originals, These are the Days and It’s About Time by his brother Ben, who influenced him to take up music and Jamie’s own works, Twentysomething, All at Sea and Next Year, Baby.

Some listeners engrossed in the songs may not notice the difference but the reason why Jamie’s tones come across as extraordinarily soft and warm is because producer Stuart Levine recorded the entire album in the old analog format. This system was the one most widely used up to the ‘80s, when the clearer, crisper digital format took over. Remember those large tapes in the studio? Recent times though have found producers using the analog for particular recordings particularly those they want to sound like coming from a previous time like Twentysomething.

I like to think of lots of great things happening to Jamie. The kid deserves it. Would you believe he recorded his entire album live just like Sinatra did? There is not much room for repeat takes when you do that. Besides, I really think jazz is a type of music we can certainly use more of. It is sexy, sinful, and the root of a lot of other things. Not evil, mind you. But of R&B and soul and rock and roll.