Jamie Cullum - Live At Blenheim
The sprawling baroque manor of Blenheim Palace provides an ideal setting for Jamie Cullum's summer 2004 festival documentary,Live at Blenheim Palace, an exhaustive record of his stage show. He commands the stage space with a confidence that belies his tender years, ignoring the usual limitations of the performer's body. He's often found under the piano, or dancing on top of its lid, or even inside, using the entire instrument as a percussion tool. He's constantly running around the stage, interacting with his band, bounding down to shake hands with the front rows. Cullum is modest about his jazz credentials but has excellent taste when recruiting his regular team of bassist Geoff Gascoyne and drummer Sebastiaan De Kromm. Cullum's horn section also boasts the presence of trombonist Barnaby Dickinson and saxophonist Ben Castle, two of Britain's brightest newcomers. The camerawork doesn't distract, but still has a dynamic sense, managing to keep track of Cullum's antics from a variety of quick-edit angles. There isn't much preamble, with the concert presented in straightforward manner. In-between each cluster of songs, there's a selection of documentary inserts, showing Jamie on tour in the U.S., playing at Glastonbury, paying homage to the 1950s beat poets, and meeting his (mostly female) autograph hunters. Extras include the trio playing in San Francisco (with no audience gathered, funnily enough), more Glastonbury footage, an excerpt from theSouth Bank Showspecial and the videos of "All at Sea," "These Are the Days," and "The Wind Cries Mary."--Martin Longley