{"id":3309,"date":"2011-08-10T00:37:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T07:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3309"},"modified":"2011-08-10T00:37:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-10T07:37:04","slug":"jamie-cullum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/jamie-cullum\/","title":{"rendered":"JAMIE CULLUM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

JAMIE CULLUM<\/h1>\n

In pursuit of diversity, he finds an explosion <\/strong>of creativity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You can\u2019t miss the symbolism in the cover of Jamie Cullum\u2019s new CD, The Pursuit<\/em>, even if you try. In the foreground stands the artist, nattily attired, his facial expression somewhere between anger and mischief. Behind him, occupying roughly\u00a0two-thirds of the cover\u2019s real estate, is a grand piano in mid-explosion, wood splinters and ivory keys flying through the air\u00a0with abandon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always fighting with each other, me and the piano,\u201d Cullum explains with a chuckle. \u201cIt never does what I want it to do. And this time we fought so hard that I had to blow it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call it a sacrifice in the name of art. And thank the beleaguered instrument\u2014on which, it must be said, Cullum is supremely proficient\u2014for taking one for the team. The Pursuit<\/em> is the London native\u2019s most impressive album to date, his most mature and stylistically diverse. Now 30, Cullum took a four-year break after his last release, Catching Tales<\/em>, during which he \u201cwent to the pub and played football and jammed with friends, saw a lot of music and read a lot of books, did a lot of dancing, went to a lot of parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also woodshedded in his kitchen, devising a plethora of ideas that would result in a wildly diverse new album. The Pursuit<\/em> finds Cullum swinging madly on the Cole Porter-penned opener \u201cJust One of Those Things,\u201d reimagining Rihanna\u2019s dancefloor hit \u201cDon\u2019t Stop the Music\u201d as an epic pop-jazz workout, rocking forcefully on \u201cMixtape\u201d and going all\u00a0electronica-reggae on \u201cWe Run Things,\u201d the latter two among the eight original Cullum compositions in the 12-song set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my previous albums have always hinted at this level of diversity,\u201d Cullum says. \u201cPart of my identity is very much being able to put my feet in different camps and make it all sound like one musical whole. Hopefully this album doesn\u2019t sound like someone who hasn\u2019t decided what he wants to do, but like someone who has very much<\/em> decided what he wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its hybrid approach, The Pursuit <\/em>is Cullum\u2019s most cohesive work yet\u2014and a confident move toward the future. \u201cI\u2019m happy because I haven\u2019t taken a step back,\u201d he says. \u201cI think I\u2019ve made decisions based on creativity rather than commercial gain. I\u2019m one of the lucky few musicians who can make a living doing this. I get to play for people who enjoy my music and are interested in what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople talk about the gift of being a musician. But being able to do this as your work, that\u2019s the gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMIE CULLUM In pursuit of diversity, he finds an explosion of creativity You can\u2019t miss the symbolism in the cover of Jamie Cullum\u2019s new CD, The Pursuit, even if you try. In the foreground stands the artist, nattily attired, his facial expression somewhere between anger and mischief. Behind him, occupying roughly\u00a0two-thirds of the cover\u2019s real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2368,49,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3311,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309\/revisions\/3311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}