Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum is an artist deserving of superlatives but more complex than a simple set of adjectives can depict. If you know him as a ‘just’ a jazz musician or from his strikingly creative way with cover versions (among them, Radiohead’s “High & Dry” and Pharrell’s “Frontin” ) you are just familiar with the tip of the iceburg. The Pursuit, his fifth album and first new solo record in four years, is summed up by its title, taken from Nancy Mitford’s classic novel, The Pursuit of Love. “ In life, we pursue everything. Life is one long pursuit,” says Jamie and the album is just such a pursuit – a combination of his eclectic music tastes and enduring love of jazz and its timeless standards.

Cullum’s highest profile “side projects” were via his ever growing courtship with Hollywood; beginning with 2007’s animated Disney feature Meet The Robinsons in which Jamie was the singing voice of Frankie The Frog, continuing with his vocal on the Golden Globe-nominated “Best Original Song” from the John Cusack film Grace Is Gone, and culminating in his co-writing and performing with Clint Eastwood the Golden Globe-nominated “Best Original Song” from 2008’s Gran Torino.

Cullum's willingness to defy convention has served him well during his lifelong pursuit of musical fulfillment. He began playing piano and guitar at the age of eight; in his mid teens, Cullum was in & out of rock bands playing guitar, drums and piano; he was also the drummer in a hip-hop combo, eventually finding his way back to jazz through the samples used in his favorite hip-hop recordings; and Cullum spent the end of his teen years living in Paris, where he honed his skills performing in local jazz clubs before going on to become the biggest-selling British jazz artist of all time. Cullum has won an enviable reputation as a magnetic live performer, playing freewheeling concerts that emphasize spontaneity and improvisation—and which rarely employ a set list.

"The artists I most admire," Cullum concludes, "are people like Miles Davis and Tom Waits, who make all kinds of different records, and change and evolve over the years, but still remain themselves. That's what I aspire to. I'm only about five per cent of the way there, but I've got time."

Jamie says “My favourite Yamaha piano is the S6. It has exactly the right size of sound for what I do. At times I am not a gentle player and this piano holds its tuning very well throughout an entire gig. When necessary you can really caress this piano and coax very gentle sounds out of it. When it needs to hold its own amongst the clatter of drums and guitars it sings out powerfully. I play one on stage and in the studio – it’s my perfect piano.”