Kapihan sa Kanto

I like Jamie Cullum. I like what he's doing to jazz and pop. He's taking it away from the jazz elite know-it-alls and bringing it to us jazz wannabes who can't enter the scene because the stalwarts refuse half-breeds or recent converts or strays.

As I was telling M. that I recently discovered Jason Mraz and Jamie Cullum as notables, he said, "Di ba matagal ko na sinabi sa 'yo na ok sila? Di ka kasi nakikinig sa 'kin e." To which I said, "Oo nga."

Reminds me of our conversation about Launchcast. He said the same thing after I raved about how great Launchcast is. I think he recommended it some two years ago, when there was still no limit to the number of times you can skip a song, and there weren't any ads yet.

By the way, check out Jamie Cullum's website. If you register (a swift, easy, and painless process, trust me) you'll be able to access his streaming video/music. Such frenetic performances, and on the piano, too! Do you know that it isn't an easy instrument to perform onstage with? I mean, it's so bulky, it's relatively not that sexy (compared to a sax, or an upright bass, or perhaps a violin the way the girls of Bond make it). And if you use anything other than a grand piano, it looks oddly plastic (so sue me, I'm a traditionalist -- I prefer the ivory keys to the keyboard).

But Jamie Cullum makes it look good! If you ask me, he's the male version of one of my other pianist favorites, Tori Amos (who girates on the piano bench). Now if Tori Amos truly became the total performer with her sensational hip movements over her piano bench, Jamie Cullum's gimmicks include raising the mic stand so he could sing and play the piano while standing (yes, he can still reach the pedal), hopping up on the piano towards the end of a song to sing the rest of it and say goodnite to the audience, and of course tapping on the piano wood with his bare hands as if it were bongos to set the rhythm of Frontin'.

Not to mention, super galing ng bahista niya! So far all the performances I've seen, Jamie Cullum is with his trio: himself on piano, someone else on bass, and another one on drums. The politics of it all is, whoever is the youngest or in most cases cutest, gets to name the band. And so it is the Jamie Cullum trio.

When Jamie grabs the mic and leaves his keys for a bit to romance the audience, he leaves the accompaniment to his very able drummer and very very able bassist. Imagine how playful the bassist and drummer have to be to keep a stanza or two going without the melody of the piano! But it all works wonderfully. Wow, I'd really like to see Jamie Cullum perform live. And the nameless bassist and drummer, too.