KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — While the rest of the world spent their time under lockdown baking and gardening, British jazz singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum was busy making a Christmas album.
Titled The Pianoman At Christmas and featuring 10 original songs written by him, it’s his first holiday album and has all the makings of a classic.
“I guess that’s my version of baking,” he told Malay Mail via Zoom ahead of the album’s launch.
Harnessing the isolation of the pandemic, Cullum used his imagination to write a festive and hopeful album — and he didn’t even need to decorate the house or pretend it was snowing outside.
All he needed was quiet afternoons to himself once his young daughters were done with home-schooling.
“The lockdown, as stressful as it was and as confusing and worrying as it was, I think most people can agree there was actually a lot space in a different way because we weren’t rushing from place to place — it’s an ideal space to be creative in,” the baby-faced 41-year-old said.
When it comes to Christmas hits, the classics reign supreme and any musician who has their sights on a hit is setting themselves up for trouble.
Instead, Cullum focused on building rock-solid songs with a timeless vibe, thinking along the lines of Christmas albums he listens to year after year from the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Donny Hathaway.
“They just feel timeless, you pull them out every year like your favourite jumper so I try to think about it in those terms rather than what the sound should be or what would work in the charts.”
On his ‘confusing’ Jewish-Asian holiday tradition
Born to a Jewish father and an Indian-Burmese mother, holiday time at the Cullum household was interesting although the Ivor Novello Award winner never really realised it until he started asking questions.
Being first-generation immigrants to the UK, Cullum’s parents were told by their parents to be as British as possible to fit into their new country.
“My upbringing was in a way comically British although all my aunties would be bringing lime pickle to the table that they’d made and cooking things I didn’t see at other people’s houses but as far as I knew I was British but I tan really easily.”.
“At the same time I had the Jewish side — half the Jewish family would be pretending Christmas wasn’t happening.
“And half of them would be doing this weird thing that I didn’t quite understand before Christmas, but then also celebrated Christmas as well so it was never very obvious to me growing up.”
He revealed his German-Jewish grandmother was too frightened to have a German accent and too afraid to embrace her Jewishness having lost all her family in the Holocaust.
“That’s the background I grew up in and it was amazing but also quite confusing.”
Christmas in the new normal
Now with a family of his own — Cullum, married to ex-model turned writer Sophie Dahl whose grandfather was the children’s book author Roald Dahl, said his daughters, aged nine and seven, know Christmas this year will be a bizarrely different one due to the pandemic.
“What’s Christmas going to be like for any of us this year? I don’t really know.”
His favourite tradition of reading ghost stories by the fireplace will carry on but he also made sure to introduce his girls to his must-watch holiday movies, Home Alone and Gremlins, which he did last year.
“The song that really encapsulates what I want my Christmas to be is Beautiful All Together.
“That’s bittersweet really because we have to be so apart at the moment but really Christmas is about togetherness so however we manage to be together will be what Christmas is,” he said.
Given 2020’s notorious reputation as a tumultuous year, the seasoned musician wants his Christmas album to bring warmth, like a cosy blanket on a wintry day.
He’s thankful for Malaysian fans
Looking back on the year, the pandemic reminded Cullum of how amazing his fans are all over the world and he’s eager for performances to resume.
“I only have to take one look at my streaming figures and see how many fans I have in Malaysia and throughout the world, just how big streaming numbers are over there.
“I have amazing fans out there so I would absolutely be coming back as soon as we can get on a plane and it’s safe to travel again in the way that we all know and I will be back there,” he said.
This album, Cullum said, has only reinforced his passion for songwriting which he didn’t realise when he started out as a jazz singer.
After all, the Everlasting Love singer has always followed his instincts, doing what excites him musically.
“I thought I wanted to be this kind of piano player, performer and singer but actually, all I really ever wanted to do was write songs and it’s taken me nearly 20 years to discover that.
“In a funny way, this Christmas album is the perfect expression of that because I think many singers and performers release Christmas albums but very few decide to write all the songs,” he said.
How the pandemic is changing music
On how the pandemic is changing the music industry, Cullum said having technology at our fingertips means musicians can promote their music any way they want to fans.
“Technology has made this all possible and made us all disconnected in one way but more connected in another, so somewhere between the two wherever it lands, it’s going to be more positive,” he said.
Just like how the pandemic didn’t deter him from making a new album, Covid-19 hasn’t stopped him from doing virtual interviews from his home studio.
“It won’t be perfect, it will be challenging in a lot of ways but it’s still happening and the spirit of music and the spirit of who we are will ride on through however we go,” he said.
The Pianoman At Christmas is out today on all major streaming platforms.
