MODENA, PIAZZA ROMA
Tuesday, July 20

In July 2026 Jamie Cullum played Piazza Roma at the very first Jazz Open Modena, his only concert in Italy that year. Now he is coming back. Few musicians have done more to open jazz up to a wider audience. His 2003 album Twentysomething became the fastest-selling jazz album in UK chart history and brought him his first Grammy nomination; with more than ten million records sold, he is the best-selling British jazz artist of all time. He co-wrote the title song for Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, which was nominated for a Golden Globe, won an Ivor Novello Award in 2020 for The Age of Anxiety, and has worked with artists from Pharrell to Lang Lang. Since 2010 he has presented a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, where he was among the first to champion Gregory Porter. On stage he is a whirlwind, moving from piano to percussion, from jazz standards to Hendrix and Radiohead covers to his own songs

Paul Janeway grew up in small-town Alabama training to become a preacher. Instead, he took the fervour of the pulpit to the stage: in 2012 he and bassist Jesse Phillips founded St. Paul & The Broken Bones in Birmingham, Alabama, an eight-piece soul band with a full horn section. Their debut Half the City (2014), recorded partly at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, gave them the hit Call Me and a reputation built above all on stage. They opened for the Rolling Stones, played Glastonbury, Coachella and Bonnaroo, and Elton John invited them to perform at his Oscar party. Over the following albums they ventured into psychedelia and cinematic rock. For their sixth album, released in October 2025 on their own label and simply called St. Paul & The Broken Bones, they went back to FAME. Produced by Eg White, known for his work with Adele and Sam Smith, it returns to the song-focused soul of their beginnings.