Jamie Cullum - “I Never Let Anything Hold Me Back”
Apr 26th, 2012 by admin
This post has been submitted by Janet Redding. Thank you, Janet. 
Les
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Jamie Cullum – “I Never Let Anything Hold Me Back.”
He failed his grade four Piano exam, he can barely read a note of music, but despite this, Jamie Cullum is the UK’s biggest selling jazz artist of all time.
Brought up in rural Wiltshire, music was incredibly important in Jamie Cullum’s family life. His parents sung in a band, the house where he grew up was full of musical instruments, his early memories include jamming sessions with his parents, uncle and brother. However, when Cullum first started taking piano lessons at the age of eight, he just couldn’t seem to get to grips with reading music. He would go on practising, and his piano playing would improve, but he couldn’t make any progress understanding the notes on the page. His teacher would tell him they were going to read through a piece of music before playing it. He would then beg her to simply play it through for him, and copy her, not only playing the song but also adding bits that he thought ‘sounded better.’
He learned how to play the songs he loved by listening to tapes and cds over and over, studying every nuance of every note and chord, piecing the song together painstakingly until he could play the whole thing.
He failed his Grade Four Piano exam and never got beyond it, because by that stage, the sight reading part was so important. It was almost like a form of dyslexia. He found it so impossible that he gave up trying to read music after that point. However Jamie has never let it inhibit his creativity or his ability to perform.
The first song he played live at a proper gig, was a song he had only just worked out how to play earlier on, in his bedroom at home. The gig was in a pub in Bristol. The piano player became ill and the band leader called into the crowd “Is there anyone out there who can play piano?” Cullum’s friend pushed his hand up, and the rest is history. The song was ‘You Know What it Means To Miss New Orleans,’ a jazz classic.
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Cullum went on to play in clubs and cover bands, in sessions for other musicians. He sometimes played for free, sometimes for trifling amounts of money. He just loved playing music and writing songs: songwriting brought together words and music, the two things he loved most. Yet he still didn’t think he was good enough to be a professional musician; that choice was for ‘other people.’ He did a degree in English Literature at the University of Reading, thinking it would lead him to a more conventional career choice; but the music simply wouldn’t let him go. During his free time, evenings and weekends he would play at pubs and bars and at weddings.
Finally he had enough money to record his first cd, Jamie Cullum Trio – Heard It All Before. Five hundred copies were produced, which are now incredibly rare and sought after. He carried on playing wherever he could and when he finally did start to get the breakthroughs he’d been dreaming about, he had a good track record of solid work behind him, which helped him keep his feet on the ground. In 2003 he appeared on The Parkinson Show and got signed to Universal for a million pound deal. His life quickly become a surreal whirlwind tour where he became surrounded by people he didn’t know. He kept his head by concentrating ferociously on his music.
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As well as touring and recording new albums, Jamie now also has his own Jazz radio show. He has a hectic family life, being married to supermodel Sophie Dahl, with a baby daughter, Lyra. Their London home is full of pianos, rare guitars, and drumkits, and they are probably careful to compare house insurance to make sure they are all covered!
Cullum is best known for jazz but plays a diversity of music and has a great range of styles. He has always been motivated by wanting to get better and better at playing the piano; to improve his craft. This has led him into a career where he sold out the Albert Hall and rocked The Proms. So if you can’t play sheet music, or you’re not classically trained, don’t let it stop you. Just keep making music, keep improvising, keep trying things out and enjoying yourself – you never know where the music will take you!
