New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Blue Note Records is the new U.S. home of Jamie Cullum, the best-selling jazz artist in U.K. history. The label will release Interlude, Cullum's seventh studio album, in the States on January 27, 2015. The album marks a shift to straight-ahead jazz and a return to interpretation from an artist who has made a habit of bending genres, writing original material and bringing new sounds and new listeners to the music.
"To get where you want to go, sometimes you have to go back to where it all started," explains Cullum. "Interlude is a celebration of my love of jazz that I get to revisit every week on my radio show. Through it, I have connected with some of the most talented musicians on the scene. This is a collaboration with them. Recorded in the original way - live, in one large room, straight to analogue tape, in single takes."
Together with producer Benedic Lamdin of Nostalgia 77, Cullum selected a number of jewels from the American songbook, including the title track, which was penned by
Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli, added a couple of modern surprises (Sufjan Steven's "The Seer's Tower" and Randy Newman's "
Losing You") and invited special guests
Gregory Porter and
Laura Mvula into the studio for a pair of duets. Both artists got their first plays on radio on Cullum's award-winning show, which airs on BBC
Radio 2 in the U.K. and is the most listened to jazz broadcast in all of Europe.
Jamie talks about the making of Interlude in the album trailer, which gives fans a look behind the scenes and a first listen to many of its songs. The album pre-order has launched on iTunes along with the first single, "Good Morning Heartache," which features
Laura Mvula. Originally cut by Billie Holiday in 1946, the song had never before been recorded as a duet. The album is also available for pre-order on Amazon and Google Play. The single can be heard on streaming services including Spotify.
"Laura, of course, absolutely nails it. She has a truly unique voice," observes Cullum.
"'Good Morning Heartache' is that beautiful thing of melancholy/joy that I love so much," says Mvula. "I can't believe Jamie invited me to record it with him for Interlude. This album is everything and my friend Jamie is sublime and masterful as ever."
Cullum pairs up with
Gregory Porter on another classic song that had never been done as a duet, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." It is perhaps an unusual choice for a duet, but Jamie came up with the perfect scenario. "Imagine it's two guys fighting over a girl and they're each kind of stating their case," he told Porter. While perhaps most associate the song with The Animals, who had a transatlantic hit with it, Cullum and Porter take inspiration from Nina Simone's original recording of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
Jamie found a kindred spirit in producer Ben Lamdin, the guiding force behind the collective of musicians known as Nostalgia 77. Lamdin appeared on Cullum's radio show and the two hit it off so well they decided to collaborate.
"We both grew up listening widely, from rock, drum n' bass to hip hop and discovered jazz through acts like DJ Shadow and A Tribe Called Quest," says Cullum, who has recently appeared on albums by Labrinth,
Birdy and alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030. "Loving jazz the way it used to sound and fascinated by the way it used to be recorded Ben set to work in this amazing analogue studio behind a fish market in North London. Surrounding himself with like-minded musicians he's been going in there and making these fantastic records for about 10 years. I have been a fan since day one."
Cullum has been spending time in New York City recently, where he debuted Interlude in its entirety during a pair of intimate shows at The Blue Note Jazz Club. He supported
Billy Joel at Madison
Square Garden last week.
Jamie self-released his first album, Heard It All Before, in 1999, while he was still studying at the University of Reading. Pointless Nostalgic (2002), released by legendary indie jazz label Candid Records, was certified Gold in the U.K. It was followed by Cullum's breakthrough major label debut, Twentysomething, which climbed into the Top 5 in the U.K., where it was subsequently certified triple Platinum. Cullum recorded two songs for the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack and was nominated for a Golden Globe® for "Best Original Song" for "Gran Torino," which he co-wrote for the 2008
Clint Eastwood film of the same name. Interlude is the follow-up to Cullum's 2013 album Momentum, which he recorded with producers Dan the Automator and Jim Abbiss.
Interlude - Track Listing:
1. Interlude
2. Don't You Know
3. The Seer's Tower
4. Walkin'
5. Good Morning Heartache feat.
Laura Mvula
6. Sack O' Woe
7. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood feat. Gregory Porter
8. My One And Only Love
9. Lovesick Blues
10. Losing You
11. Out Of This World
12. Make Someone Happy
13. Come And Get Me
14. Lullaby Of The Leaves
15. Come Rain Or Come Shine
