There’ve been jokes about me being married to a taller woman. So I wanted to own it
Jamie Cullum is on a high following the release of his album Taller, but he tells MARION McMULLEN that success only came when he scrapped everything and started again
THE powerful and intimate songs of Jamie Cullum’s album Taller saw the singer-songwriter reveal an honest vulnerability. Even the title was Jamie’s response to the taunts about his 5ft 5ins height and his marriage to his 6ft tall wife Sophie Dahl.
“Historically there have been jokes about my physical stature and being married to a taller woman,” he says. “So I wanted to own it.”
The result was a highly personal album that saw Jamie at the peak of his songwriting powers.
“I wanted it to be about my songs, about my writing. It was also a love letter to my wife.”
The album has notched up 10 million sales to date and Jamie is now looking forward to performing the songs live as part of a nationwide tour.
“It’s funny, but the last five years I have been everywhere – America, through Europe, Asia – but I’ve given the UK a bit of time off,” he laughs.
“It’s been a while, but I’m really excited to be doing it.
“It’s going to be so fun playing this new music out on tour.”
He may be proud of the music now, but Jamie reveals that at one point he “actually scrapped everything”.
“I had written maybe seven songs and Amanda Ghost, who I had worked with on TV’s The Halcyon, asked what I was working on and I sent some of the tracks to her.
“She came back saying ‘No, it doesn’t feel right’ and it was a real turning point. It made me knuckle down.”
The album was written and recorded at Jamie’s home studio with his long-time friend and collaborator Troy Miller and marked his first in five years.
“It was about getting older, my past, my family, my children and really what it all means to me,” says Jamie, who turned 40 last year.
“You ask yourself ‘Why am I doing this?’ Are you doing this to be famous?’ – which I’m not – or ‘Are you doing it for the money?’
“Well, that’s an amazing by-product, but this is something I need to do, something real. I like to challenge myself.
“I try not to feel too comfortable to be honest. I do love writing in my studio at home, but I challenge myself to write songs in a different way. There is a certain comfort and honesty to being on stage though.
“A lot of arena concerts are choreographed like a West End show with all the songs and banter rehearsed, but there’s none of that in my shows,” he laughs.
“I surround myself with the best musicians it’s possible to find.
“When things do go wrong that is kind of great. I’ve spoken to other artists about touring and I think I have a different relationship to it.
“They have a cycle of making albums, promoting albums, tour albums and then go back and do the cycle all over again. My cycle is ‘there’s a gig, let’s go and play it’.”
He shrugs with a smile: “Different mentality I guess. I never stop playing. There is an amazing circuit of festivals all over the world and they run throughout the year. I very rarely have a lot of time off.
“I really want to honour the music I’ve done and put on a great show. No compromises, you know.”
One highlight for Jamie was being invited to perform at the White House for then President Barack Obama, alongside Aretha Franklin and Herbie Hancock.
“I thought ‘no way,’” laughs Jamie. “I really did feel like people who say they have been abducted by aliens.
“I felt quite out of body and ‘what the f**k am I doing here?
“It was so weird to be there, but they were so welcoming and you could just feel the love for Obama in that room. Just to be there and experience the musicians there – they are the top, the Mozarts.”
Jamie’s own legendary live shows have seen him perform at festivals alongside artists as diverse as Pharrell Williams, Kendrick Lamar and St Vincent.
Jamie has also recently been recording with fellow pianist Jools Holland and co-hosted Jools Holland ... Later with him on BBC2 last year. He has also made his mark as a broadcaster with his popular jazz show on BBC Radio 2.
“That’s been so inspiring for me,” he says, “and has had more of an impact than I expected.
“To chat to my heroes, to people in their 70s and 80s who have had incredible careers, is so inspiring, and to chat to people in their 20s who are doing amazing things in music technology who have a real sense of where they want to go.
“I enjoy collaborating with people in my own studio and feeling that creativity.
“Not sucking the blood of youth,” he says with a laugh, “but capturing that feeling you have when you are a child and there are no boundaries. You just do it.
“I try to follow my instinct and not tell myself that is going to be embarrassing or not good enough.
“Just do it and worry about it afterwards.”
Jamie Cullum is at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, on March 24. Visit stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk or jamiecullum.com for tickets