With a few hard-to-find releases under his belt,
Pointless Nostalgic
marks the more widespread debut of piano-pounding British crooner
Jamie Cullum
. Barely in his twenties,
Cullum
has a wise old rasp that usually takes decades of chain-smoking to acquire.
's move to mix
jazz
standards
, American songbook classics, and contemporary popular music was a risky one that could easily isolate fans of each genre. However,
managed to find a unifying thread in all of the styles, tying them together in a manner that seemed like the natural culmination of a diverse record collection.
Jazz
plays heaviest in the mix, but
's version of it is lively and roguish. A
rock & roll
spirit among erstwhile snobs, he brings blue jeans to the beret set. The only real downfall of the album is that the music is often outmatched by
's pipes to the point of distraction. The blaring horns are too often off-key and grating, detracting from an otherwise well-performed album. Highlights come courtesy of
's diverse and well-chosen array of cover songs. While so many
Harry Connick, Jr.
wannabes stick to the
and limply mimic moves lifted from
Frank Sinatra
's catalog,
hops from
Radiohead
to
Thelonious Monk
with equal verve and accomplishment. Closing number
"I Want to Be a Popstar"
is a playful rumination on the advantages of being a
pop
star rather than a
key pounder. The mischievous romp exemplifies the lighthearted approach that has become
's calling card, endearing him to jazzophiles and screaming young girls alike.
's popularity subsequently skyrocketed with 2004's
Twentysomething
, which exhibited a fuller grasp of his vocal strength and featured a strong backing band to match. On that album, his increasingly scratchy croon wrings every sultry note out of
Jeff Buckley
's
"Lover, You Should Have Come Over,"
and he puts a sly dance club spin on
"I Could Have Danced All Night."
Even with the expert selection of covers, however, it's his own cheeky nod to the restlessness of youth,
"Twentysomething,"
that steals the show. ~ Karen E. Graves