The Wind Cries Jamie

“These are the days that I’ve been missing / Give me the taste / Give me the joy of summer wine” – “These Are the Days,” Twentysomething (Jamie Cullum’s 2004 debut album)

Just like the summer wine that he sings about, Jamie Cullum is completely intoxicating. Jamie is an incredibly talented artist who puts on one hell of a show. I came away from the concert completely enamored; what a love to feel!

Jamie Cullum a British jazz-pop artist who is relatable to his contemporaries, while also standing out in his own unique way. Like Michael Buble, he has mastered a tone that melts away, but unlike Michael Buble, he does not limit himself to the love ballad genre. Like Rufus Wainwright, he has a certain earnestness in his singing that is reflected in the (at times) dry, coarse, and smoky sound of his voice. And yet he differs from Rufus Wainwright in that Rufus is more of a storytelling artist. Like Ben Folds, Jamie Cullum is trained in piano and is not afraid to show it while performing. Both artists stand up, throw their heads and hair around to-and-fro, bang at the keys, etc. when they’re overcome by the melody. It is truly inspiring to watch both Jamie and Ben perform for this reason. However, Ben is more of a pop-piano artist and performs clever, witty, singer-songwriter songs, while Jamie is more of a jazz artist and plays whatever inspires him at the moment. [Honorable mention goes to Norah Jones (comparable because of great voice, great range of songs) and Lily Allen (comparable because of British nationality, witty songs).]


Jamie Cullum was truly a delight to see live because he truly performed as a “jazz” artist, in the sense that he presented a spontaneous, live-by-the-seat-of-your-pants form of art. While he played songs off his record, he’d often digress into his own interpretations of the song or into completely random tunes on his piano (one can only wonder if these were pieces he had learned at an earlier time that he suddenly felt like playing, or if he was ad-libbing and letting the tune play itself). Jamie warned the crowd of his constant deviations and also warned that once he gets going, he often finds it hard to stop. At one point during a detour, he got “going” so much that he turned his head away from the piano, covered his eyes with his left hand, and proceeded to play the entire tune (complex, fast-tempo, and all) with his right hand for a good minute or two. It was wildly impressive. Perhaps even more entertaining, though, was to watch his band’s reaction when this happened. Anytime he’d stray from the song, his band would stop and rest their instruments, fixated on him like attentive pets, waiting for their cue to join back in. However, this time, they might have been a little less loyal to Master Jamie; it was as if, for a brief second, a smirk came over each of their faces and they glanced at one another with raised eyebrows and rolling eyes as if saying, “what a showoff,” or “there Jamie goes again…”

The highlight of the evening, in my opinion, was when Jamie went off on a tangent – only to circle around and play one of my favorite songs of his. He started by playing/singing a cover of John Mayer’s song “Gravity.” After only a couple of lines, (“Gravity is working against me / Gravity wants to bring me down / Gravity stay the hell away from me… cause….. gravity…y…y…. ”) Jamie laughed along with the audience as he admitted that he didn’t actually know the words to the song but he thought it’d be “fun song to try.” However, this lack of direction didn’t stop him. He continued to chop away at the piano and somehow managed to find an opportunity to transition into a cover of Ray Charles’s “I’ve Got A Woman.” [Why not throw in a cover... or two... or three?] After singing a few lines about having a woman across town who wants to take his money, Jamie transitioned into “These Are the Days” – one of my favorite songs, off of his Twentysomething album. The first verse of the song goes “these are the days that I’ve been missing / give me the taste / give me the joy of summer wine // and these are the days that bring you meaning / I feel the stillness of the sun / and I feel fine.”

Jamie proceeded to sing this verse again at the end of the song, and to repeat the last line over and over again – “I feel fine.” At one point, he left his piano and walked around the stage – eyes closed and fingers snapping their own beat – cooing the line over and over to his own rhythm. He ended the procession by making his way to the center of the stage, without his microphone, standing in front of the crowd with his arms spread open, encouraging everyone to sing along with him those three simple words – “I feel fine!”

The evening was truly magical; it was such a privilege to be invited into Jamie Cullum’s special world. At times I felt my heart rise into my throat and my breath catch in my chest; I was relieved to know the dark auditorium disallowed anyone from seeing my cheeks blushing as I listened to Jamie serenade the crowd. I do not believe it is fair to assume that my heart was racing because of some schoolgirl fantasy of Jamie Cullum; rather, I think my emotions were caught up in the ideas that Jamie’s performance conveyed. Jamie played with such passion, such intensity, such focus, while at the same time maintaining a rowdy, joyful, light-hearted nature. As I watched Jamie play his piano and sing his songs, I found myself seeing love in his behaviors. And shouldn’t this be what love is all about? Shouldn’t a full-fledged love be full of incredible force and happiness and veracity? It was almost easy to miss these fine points of Jamie’s performance – but perhaps these were the most important. Seeing Jamie perform made me hope that someday I find a love in my own life that is on par with the level of affection in his performance. I’m not sure if my exact feelings quite translate when put into words, but as I’ve said, it was quite a magical feeling. I would recommend to anyone and everyone to see Jamie Cullum live in concert.

For the last song during his encore, Jamie took the liberty of modifying the popular song “Wind Cries Mary.” The audience found a last laugh in unexpectedly hearing him sing the words “and the wind….cries…. Jamie!” While this action easily could've been viewed as a cocky joke, the audience totally bought in; everyone took part in echoing his sentiments, much like worshippers singing out of a hymnal. It is only proper that my final words on the matter relay this consensus –

All hail the gospel of Jamie.

Jamie jumping off his piano at the end of his concert in Atlanta.

Jamie's cover of Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music"
Jamie singing "Gran Torino" (theme from motion picture) live at Carnegie Hall
Official music video for "All At Sea" [Jamie's first single, released on his album Twentysomething]