Jamie Cullum will perform at the Avalon on March 23, with opener Imelda May. Cullum is Britain's best-selling jazz artist, known chiefly for his previous albums "Twentysomething" and "Catching Tales." This tour will promote his newest album, "The Pursuit," which hit stores March 2nd. Cullum is known for his entertaining on-stage antics, which usually include leaping on top of his piano, sliding across the stage, and performing amongst the audience. Although he's no longer "Twentysomething" Cullum looks and acts like an energetic teenager in his Chucks and graphic t-shirts. However, his voice tends more towards Harry Connick Jr., crooning and reinventing hits like Radiohead's "High and Dry."
Imelda May serves as a foil to Cullum, she is recognizable for her performance alongside Jeff Beck at this year's Grammy's. She's an Irish rockabilly singer, and if that's not a combination odd enough to get you interested then I don't know what is. Keep an eye out for her, I have a feeling she's going to be very popular in the future.
The title of Cullum's album was inspired by Nancy Mitford's classic novel The Pursuit of Love. "It's my fiancé’s favorite book, and the line in 'Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down' that says 'The pursuit of love consumes us all' is a reference to that," Cullum explains on his website. "The reason I made it the album title was that I've come to realize that life is one long pursuit. Being a musician is not about any obvious goal; it's about appreciating the journey as opposed to the destination."
The album is long-awaited, Cullum took time off after touring for "Catching Tales" to pursue side projects. He recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra, and wrote the lyrics for the award-winning "Gran Torino." He has DJ'd and created dance beats alongside his brother, an experience reflected in the final tracks of his album.
“I like that this album journeys from a big-band track at the start to a proggy house/dance track at the end, because it's all me” Cullum notes. “But if the only thing that people notice is that this album is stylistically all over the place, then I will feel I have failed in some way.”
Cullum approached The Pursuit with a loose, experimental attitude. With recordings in hand from his new studio and his home kitchen (where he has dozens of keyboards so he can write & record when finding inspiration from two of his other great passions – cooking and eating), Cullum moved the project to Los Angeles for three months, recording the bulk of the album with veteran producer/musician Greg Wells (whose extensive resume includes work with Katy Perry, One Republic, Mika and Rufus Wainwright) and a stellar assortment of musicians, including members of Beck's band and the horn section that played on Michael Jackson's Thriller. "It was intentional to work with a new producer and new musicians, and to record in a city that I didn't know that well," Cullum states. "I needed to frighten myself. Being in unfamiliar territory forced me to do things differently, and to operate on a hyper-sensitive, hyper-alert level. Having turned 30, I just felt like I needed to do something different."
The Pursuit features nine Cullum originals and five cover songs that showcase the Grammy and Golden Globe nominated entertainer’s unique voice and iconoclastic interpretive skills. The self-penned gems include the buoyant first single "I'm All Over It," the cheerfully apocalyptic "Wheels," the animated swing of "You and Me Are Gone," Cullum’s love song to music "Mixtape" and his love song to love "Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down.” Elsewhere on the album, Cullum reinvents 1930s jazz standards (Cole Porter’s “Just One Of Those Things” and “Love For Sale”), brings the dance floor into the bedroom (Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music”) and cleans the pancake off the Great White Way (Leslie Bricusse's "If I Ruled the World" and Stephen Sondheim's "Not While I'm Around").
The concert is:
WHEN: 7:00, March 23
WHERE: The Avalon, 1735 Vine Street Hollywood, CA 90028
$$$: 27
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