Jamie sings for Amy at Pizza Express
Modern pop is often dismissed as throwaway. Now the winner of a new nationwide talent search will hear their music played every time diners open their takeaway cardboard pizza box.
Instead of a swiftly-terminated record deal, the winner of a search for “real” music talent, launched by jazz star Jamie Cullum, will have an opportunity to sneak their music into thousands of homes at dinner time.
Cullum is making a public appeal for singers, musicians, soloists and bands to put through their paces in a masterclass session.
Unlike the X Factor, the finalists have to be able to cut it in an intimate live setting, with the winner of The Big Audition earning a residency at the famous Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho.
The innovative prize is that the winner’s music will be played when every box containing a Pizza Express takeaway is opened. The technology is an enhancement of that used with singing greeting cards.
“This could be the future for music,” Cullum told Beehive. “You have to find new ways of getting music directly to people in their homes. I can imagine a Pussycat Dolls song in a catfood tin.”
Love Is A Losing Game was best song says Cullum
The competition is open to performers across jazz, rock, rap and soul who might not get a chance on a Simon Cowell show.
Cullum was a judge on Sky 1′s short-lived talent search Must Be The Music and says he has “no beef” with the X Factor. But his competition is “for people who can do it for real, not those who want to be famous.
“We’ll try some improvisation in the masterclass, that’s a great way to get a sense of freedom on stage.
“It could be trumpeters, singers, or hip-hop drummers. The contenders will already be of a high technical ability because playing at the Soho club carries a certain level of danger.”
Cullum launched the Big Audition with a concert at Pizza Express where he paid tribute to Winehouse, performing her song Love Is A Losing Game.
“I did my first ever tour with Amy,” said Cullum. “She used to tell me off and say ‘Jamie, you’ve got to write your own bloody tunes, in’cha. Come on, stop playing all that old rubbish, you know that’.”
Jamie once shared a musical afternoon with Amy at the South Bank Show awards. He said: “We went to the party after and then to the Savoy Piano Bar. We played and we sang a bunch of songs you wouldn’t have heard her sing before. We did a bunch of standards, some Irving Berlin, a lot of Gershwin.
“She was a true lover of jazz and it was amazing to hear her incredible voice right in your face. She was an incredible personality and we will miss her terribly.”
Introducing his version of Love Is A Losing Game, Jamie said “Maybe she’ll be laughing at me right now but I’m going to have a go at playing her best song.”
The audience listened in silence to Jamie’s poignant solo performance at the piano. Mysteriously Cullum, who has just had a baby daughter with model Sophie Dahl, segued from Amy’s song in to Jeff Buckley’s Lover You Should Have Come Over.
The Dean Street venue played host to a young Winehouse as well as jazz legends like pianist Mose Allison. Cullum said he agreed to lead the search because his early gigs at Pizza Express restaurants “paid my rent and for a lot of young jazz musicians, their venues still do.”
Competition entrants will be able to upload an audition clip online at www.pizzaexpress.com/thebigaudition
Any genre of music is welcome, from singers, instrumentalists, soloists and groups, of any age. The Top 50 acts will perform at live regional heats hosted at Pizza Express restaurants across the country before Cullum and a panel of judges assess the top ten.
