Jamie Cullum - These Are The Days

2004

Jamie Cullum - These Are The Days (2004) Era: Early 2000s UK Jazz Revival (2003–2004) - Period of mainstream jazz crossover in the UK driven by young artists bridging traditional jazz with contemporary pop sensibility, coinciding with the breakout success of Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething album High archival value as a contemporaneous promotional document from one of the most commercially successful jazz crossover campaigns in UK chart history. The zero-saturation monochrome aesthetic, combined with fast performance editing and documentary-style framing, constitutes a self-conscious genre statement that repays close visual analysis. As a record of early-2000s UK jazz-pop identity construction, the video is a primary source for research into how non-pop genres negotiate mainstream visibility without abandoning subcultural authenticity markers. Context: This video was produced at a pivotal moment in UK music: Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething had just become the fastest-selling jazz album in UK chart history and elevated him to the country's highest-selling jazz artist in 2003. The single 'These Are The Days / Frontin'' reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, marking a rare crossover achievement for a jazz artist in the mainstream charts. The black-and-white, performance-centric visual approach consciously references the visual language of classic jazz documentation while situating Cullum within a contemporary pop-music-video landscape. The video's aesthetic austerity stands in pointed contrast to the glossy production values dominating MTV in 2004, signalling the jazz genre's resistance to pop artifice even amid commercial success. Director notes: The video was included as an enhanced section on the 2004 CD single release of 'These Are The Days / Frontin'' on Universal Classics & Jazz. IMDb confirms it as a 2004 UK music video shot in black and white with a runtime of approximately 3 minutes. The enhanced CD single format and early-digital visual quality are consistent with a low-to-mid budget promotional video produced for the UK single campaign tied to Cullum's breakout Twentysomething album cycle.