Just had to post after seeing some of the Jamie Cullum performance on the Proms.

Is this Jazz or pretentious (if that's how you spell it) garbage?

To me Jazz is meant to be fun, something you can sing, swing, or tap your feet to, or dance, after all this was the original format.

It is a feeling of the artist showing emotional depth, telling a story, improvising in style over a given melody, especially when it comes to Jazz standards.

Fair enough the band and Jamie showed they could wiggle about alot, although when he sings the words are not clear enough to understand, especially his own composition.

One thing I noticed were the young attractive players in the orchestra placed at the front, could be coincidence but can't help feeling this was stage managed.

It is my opinion, and I know maybe only mine, that this music that is labelled Jazz is the emperors new clothes. Well I for one want to shout out .....You have no clothes on. It doesn't swing.

Please somebody reply and argue the point that Jamie Cullum will be remembered and held in the same esteem as like say Charlie Parker or Miles Davis

Sorry can't help you there....

I have the very same reservations...

N

Jamie Cullum isn't my idea of jazz, but then I'm very specific/narrow as to the type of jazz I like, which is New Orleans jazz. There are one or two exceptions - I really enjoyed a Courtney Pine concert recently, for instance, but I've seen other other big names in the jazz world (not TV stars) who have left me cold. Jazz has so many faces, and I only like one of them. I can't stand "cool jazz" or "smooth jazz" - I find it really depressing. There's something about Jamie Cullum's style which I find very depressing as well so I never watch or listen to him.

I'm not a jazz aficionado but I know what I like when I hear it. A screaming sax or clarinet is not to my liking, and I would have to say that, being a pianist, I do prefer it when a piano is involved.

Generally, the jazz that I do like doesn't involve singing, although I can cope with the likes of Diana Krall. It seemed to me that Jamie Cullum came out of nowhere and was hyped by the media beyond measure, like an X Factor winner or some such, yet without having to have jumped through the competition hurdles along the way!

Maybe the likes of Ronnie Scott's had nurtured his talent in the background, I have no idea, but Cullum is not to my liking and certainly not in the league of those who have commanded a Jazz Concert at the Proms in the past.

He didn't come out of nowhere - I've met and chatted to a fair few people on the UK jazz scene who've played with Jamie before he was famous. They all agree that he's paid his dues and respect him as a musician. I've also seen him (after he was famous) playing in the basement of a pub, max capacity about 120, once playing his own set and another time dropping in to sing a number with the band led by his sax player (and full of well-respected young jazz musicians). On both occasions he seemed very down to earth. On the first occasion, he spent part of the set acting as the "house pianist" for singers in an open mic session - and he really did do the job of supportive accompanist, rather than show-off star. On the second occasion it wasn't his gig, he came up, sang his number and returned to his place with no fuss or attempt to upstage the guy who's gig it was.

I don't mind the music he plays nowadays - I quite enjoy it when it comes on in the car, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it, nor would I really class it as jazz - I don't suppose he would either. I do believe he has the skills to make it as a serious jazz musician, if that was what he chose to do. Instead he's chosen a much more lucrative, comfortable lifestyle, I can't say I blame him for that.

Thank goodness for that thought it was only me that could not stand Jamie Cullum, dont get him at all

He may well have come through the jazz scene with respect from other musicians etc. and clearly he can play. But it seems that the music industry has got hold of him, realised there is a massive market for this blend of pop and reworkings of big band swing (or whatever you want to call it), and paid him loads of cash. Can't really blame him, I suppose the other option for him was to stay true to himself and play in front of 20 pensioners in a Jazz club somewhere.

Yes agree JC can play the piano, but hey his singing big no no, can't blame him for cashing in if thats what the industry wants and people buy his records, I am sure he is a lovely person but still not my favourite.

I respect JC as a musician and quite enjoyed his first album. I think what has happened is that the music he releases now isn't strictly speaking jazz (and I think he'd be the first to say it) but a vague form of the genre that will sell albums for the reord company.