"I want to be a Pop Star," dreams (or perhaps derides) British Jazz Wunderkid, Jamie Cullum, on his debut album 'Pointless Nostalgic'. It is quite funny considering the rash of pop stars releasing cod-standards albums these days: Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart, and Aaron Neville. Whilst Jazz has finally gotten the much needed injection of fun and life into it over the past few years through Diana Krall and Norah Jones, Cullum kicks this thing into overdrive with his second album, "Twentysomething".

Detractors out there (you can't miss them, they're the ones who will only listen to Trad Jazz. Which is of course akin to speaking in Latin in 2004) will dismiss him as another pretender but Cullum has the talent to pull jazz kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. The refreshing thing about 'Twentysomething', apart from the originals he and his brother have penned, is the wise selection of covers. Thankfully we have an album of this caliber that doesn't need to stoop to the level of dusting off yet another version of either 'Over The Rainbow' or 'What A Wonderful World'.

Sure there are few old chestnuts like 'What A Difference A Day Makes', 'Old Devil Moon' and Cole Porter's 'I Get a Kick Out Of You' (though the cocaine line is priceless), but accompanying them are some "New Standards". Hendrix's 'The Wind Cries Mary' is a revelation, turning it from a bluesy song about a bust up to a funky and upbeat track. I also wondered how long it was going to take for someone to cover a Jeff Buckley song and Cullum gives it his best on the dirge 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over'. Being a Buckley nut, I will never go past the original but I appreciate Cullum appreciating Buckley. Also check out the hip-hop drumming on the "My Fair Lady" tune 'I Could've Danced All Night', it's worth the price of the album alone.

What makes this kid even more exciting is that, as stated earlier, he writes his own material. The swinging title track is a fantastic statement about that period in you life when you finish college and wondering where you go from here. His brother Ben's songs 'These Are The Days' and 'It's About Time' have pop crossover potential with both tracks doffing their hats to Van Morrison. The album closes with Jamie's own 'Next Year, Baby' with a nice samba beat to it.

Cullum has the whole world at his feet. The Neptunes (the production team responsible for nearly every number one song on the face of the planet for the past couple of years) are interested in collaborating with him after they heard his cover of Neptune member Pharrell Williams' hit song 'Frontin'. That song appears as a bonus track on the U.S. version of this album. Maybe he will be a Pop Star after all.