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Jamie Cullum took his feel-good jazz sprawls to the city of Nottingham as he celebrates twentysomething 20th anniversary.

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Twas the night (a few nights) before Christmas when all through the house all the creatures were stirring at the prospect of witnessing Jamie Cullum live – one of the best original jazz maestros and spellbinding pianists to ever grace the stage.

There’s never not a perfect night to watch live jazz. Be it in the dazzling Spring or the cosy Winter, settling down with a big band in tuxedos is quite an elegant affair. And nothing is more elegant than the contemporaries of the Royal Concert Hall in the Robin Hood Country.

As powerful voice and show-horse Billy Lockett built anticipation for the nights’ entertainment, it would be Cullum himself who would tip the scales.

Before two long, the lights dimmed and out trickled the first low tones of I Get A Kick Out of You on the double bass, before a 21-track setlist was blitzed off in emphatic fashion. But what’s on full celebration this night is Twentysomething. As 2024 marks thirty years since its release, Jamie works his magic on telling tales like These Are the Days, All At Sea and Twentysomething (Jamie coined this ‘thirty something‘ in performance due to his age) all the while sharing the love to his other six records over this tulmultuous career. His more compelling songwriting journey was harnessed to perfection as beautiful acoustics embellished Taller, Mankind and The Age of Anxiety from his own work of art in 2019.

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Like with many jazz tropes, there are covers a-plenty and Jamie’s certainly no different. Ray Charles’ What’d I Say received some love while Carpenter’s Please Please Please / Espresso received a medley mash-up courtesy of Cullum’s infamous Song Society project. We were also met with Simone’s soulful might Sinnerman before we got a wonderful reimagining of Killing in the Name into Cullum’s Christmas own Hang Your Lights. Mightily unexpected but equally as entertaining.

The encore was tipped with Mixtape, Rihanna’s Don’t Stop the Music – both from The Pursuit from ’09 – before we were embraced like a warm hug with beautiful compote All At Sea.

With 10 million album sold – not to mention his BBC Radio 2 Show stamped – Cullum is a celebrated musician the world over with his jazz compositions interlaced with a warm pop landscape. Encapsulated over a twenty-five year career, Cullum is still using his gift to the world of Jazz.

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