With his first holiday-themed album, 2020's
The Pianoman at Christmas
,
Jamie Cullum
strikes a festive balance between swinging traditional pop and heartfelt singer/songwriter introspection. It's a balance the singer and pianist has been perfecting ever since breaking through in the early 2000s, moving between urbane re-interpretations of jazz standards and his own lyrical pop/rock originals. It's also a formula that has helped him remain a Top 20 chart regular in the U.K. with albums like 2014's
Interlude
and 2019's
Taller
.
makes the most of these skills as
Cullum
brings all of his varied experience to bear on a set of original holiday songs. Produced by
Greg Wells
, the album is a fittingly lush production, recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios with a varied mix of big band, orchestral, and small group arrangements. Tracks like "It's Christmas" and "Christmas Never Gets Old" are big swinging numbers that capture a
Frank Sinatra
fireside sparkle. Similarly vintage-sounding, "Hang Your Lights" is a snappy, minor-key jump blues rhumba in the
Louis Prima
tradition, while "So Many Santas" crackles with a Las Vegas high-kicking chorus-girl energy. We also get the bluesy,
Ray Charles
-sounding "Jolly Fat Man" with its wry, nightclub sense of humor. While much of the album evokes the 1950s and '60s golden age of traditional pop, there are more introspective moments as
settles gently into the
Billy Joel
-esque title track, the ebullient '70s soft-rock anthem "Turn On the Lights," and the dusky, cinematic string romanticism of "Beautiful Together."
isn't just a great holiday album, it's a great
album. ~ Matt Collar