Twentysomething

When I got the album and played it, I was delighted. There is no part of the album that disappints. In an era of manufactured acts and bad covers, this is an excellent fusion of 'old standards' and new compositions, all given Jamie's unique styling.

He has an amazing talent as a performer and composer, and is photogenic.

Anyone who loves music will find something to please on this album. Select a track to fit your mood or sit back, relax and enjoy the music of Jamie Cullum.

His piano playing is really exciting. One thing is for certain, that boy can swing and he knows when to leave space too.

The album is part standards, part covers (he does a brilliant version of Jeff Buckley's Lover You Should Have Come Over) and part originals. And it's here where Jamie sets himself above his peers. He's not afraid to stray from the standard American songbook and his own songs are some of the strongest on the album. All At Sea is particularly good.

The variety on the album is really refreshing and no doubt reflects Jamie's many influences. It's just really exciting to hear someone with obvious talent, well recorded and singing great tunes. Already my candidate for album of the year.

This CD has Cullum’s engaging personality stamped all over it: youthful, enthusiastic, infectious, sexy and oozing with a love for the music he's performing (a combination of standards, originals by him and his brother Ben, and reworkings of rock/pop tunes). But it's also this eager-young-pup, scattergun approach, combined with the slick production that his shiny new record company affords, that makes 'Twentysomething' something of a hit-and-miss experience.

The hits are in the ballads, and the second half of the album. His version of Bob Dorough's 'But For Now' will have young girls swooning up and down the country; and the classic 'Blame It On My Youth' is truly touching, with Jamie’s age (he’s only 24) making it all the more affecting. The cover of Hendrix's 'Wind Cries Mary' is the album's stand-out track, with Jamie perfectly realising how this great song fits a funky jazz interpretation. In fact, it's this groove that he seems most at home with, and almost defines him as a performer, you feel. Similarly, he makes Jefff Buckley's 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over' completely his own and slots it perfectly into the jazz genre. And the final track, the self-penned ‘Next Year, Baby’, which moves perfectly from smoochy ballad to frantic latin, is a powerful ending to the CD.

It's a shame, then, that for such a cool young guy, the slick production and arrangements on some of the other tracks take him almost into - whisper it - 'naff' territory. The what feels like over-arrangement/production of some songs – smooth-jazzy chords on ‘Singin' In The Rain', violins and electric guitar on ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ to name but two - all leave you feeling that less could have been more. And it’s hard to reconcile this over-egged style with a soulful-voiced, aware young dude who likes Radiohead and Hendrix.

But this is Jamie having a bash at whatever takes his fancy and stamping his personality onto his work. And you can’t blame him for that – it is, after all, what great music-making, and most of all jazz, is all about. It’s just that some attempts pay off better than others. One critic recently commented that Jamie’s scattergun approach will probably calm down once he finds his niche. I’m not sure it will – and I hope that it won’t. Because even though, for now, it’s an approach which might not be wholly successful, to have a young British jazzer who’s entertaining and brave enough to play Hendrix as well as Cole Porter - and whose captivating live performances will no doubt bring him even more legions of fans - is a Very Good Thing. Indeed.