'David Beckham of Jazz': Jamie Cullum's album satisfies

Billy Joel, Elton John, Bruce Hornsby and Ben Folds are also known as the greatest piano rockers of the past half-century. Jamie Cullum is next on the list, and you might have already seen him. The young, jazz-pop piano sensation from the U.K. is making his "one man British invasion" of the U.S. by appearing on every major late-night show and releasing his latest album, "twentysomething."

And "twentysomething" is something you do not want to miss out on. Using a jazz foundation, Cullum injected his album with a pop flavor, drawing a couple of complaints from strict-constructionalist jazz critics, but earning mostly praise from the majority of the music community.

The album begins with "These Are the Days," a song written by the artist's brother. This song is the small spoon for ice cream samples; it lets you taste what Jamie Cullum really is: A great piano player with jazz elements, meaningful lyrics, plus a scat singing section that begs you to sing along, all backed by a terrific beat and a toe-tapping bass line. Scat singing, singing nonsense syllables instead of words, appears in many places elsewhere on the album including the title track, "twentysomething," "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "High and Dry" (yes, he covers a Radiohead song).

This brings me to one of my two complaints about the album. These, too, are many cover songs, not enough originals. On the album, only a third of the songs are original; the rest are covers and bonus tracks for the U.S. release (most of the covers do not appear on the U.K. release). Although, Cullum almost completely remakes these songs into his "own song" using basically only the same chord progression and lyrics as the originals, the covers are a notch below his original material.

Songs like "All at Sea" (the peak of the album), "Next Year, Baby" and "twentysomething" just seem to be a nicer slice of meat. Despite all these covers, Cullum can still be heralded for his originality. He reminds the music world that the piano can be a percussion instrument, too, banging on the keys and the strings in concerts, and in "I Could Have Danced All Night," begins with a drum beat played on the brow of the piano. Even his covers are somewhat original with the new Latin and soul beats that he gives them and amazing piano riffs he adds.

The second complaint about his CD is his singing. Cullum is not nearly as gifted at singing as he is at playing the piano; his voice has the nasal ring that has become popular lately with the emo and pop-punk movement. Keep in mind, though, pretty voices aren't all that. Bob Dylan's voice didn't hurt his career. However, it is this combination of elements — originality with covers, talented piano with what some might call untalented singing — that makes Jamie Cullum so singular and new to the jazz world. It is jazz from the perspective of a scruffy, college student who was baby fed pure pop and rock music, and this is why the UK's new sensation is being nicknamed the "David Beckham of Jazz."

4 stars out of 5.