Jamie Cullum folds many flavors into his frisky jazz-pop 'Tales'

''Jack of all trades, master of none." That's how Jamie Cullum, the young British singer, songwriter, and pianist described himself in an interview last year. Technically, he's right. At 26, Cullum is neither a gifted jazzer nor an accomplished pop craftsman. But what he lacks in chops he makes up for in spirit and swagger. Cullum's love for playing music is ferocious, and it's precisely his scrappy nature and devil-may-care approach that make Cullum's new album, ''Catching Tales," a pleasure.

Building on the recipe that made 2004's Grammy-nominated ''Twentysomething" the fastest-selling jazz album in UK history, ''Catching Tales," in stores tomorrow, is a well-mannered mash-up -- frisky if not especially adventurous. In Cullum's hands, swing and funk, acoustic balladry and rap, gilded chestnuts and modern-rock covers congeal into something swank and smart that falls under the heading of jazz-pop. Don't let the hyphenate scare you. The music may go down easy, but despite a couple of spineless, middle-of-the-road missteps this is not Spyro Gyra.

Cullum is a jazz whiz for a new generation: schooled in the standards and weaned on the Beastie Boys. ''Get Your Way," the opening track, is nothing short of inspired -- a strutting, beat-drenched collaboration among Cullum, New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, and San Francisco hip-hop producer Dan the Automator. It's followed in short order by Cullum's own ''London Skies" and ''Photograph," winsome nuggets fit to warm the hearts of coffeehouse coeds; an ambient minimalist read of ''I Only Have Eyes for You"; and a blissed-out take on Doves' ''Catch the Sun." ''Nothing I Do," a crisp original, bows at the altar of the masters while bristling with the sort of louche swagger that's earned Cullum the nickname Sinatra in sneakers.

And while Cullum will probably never match the heights of pop's iconic vocal interpreter, his singing voice -- a rich, weathered instrument -- is likewise irresistible. Casually elegant, occasionally flippant, and perpetually warm and witty, it's a voice that can find new mysteries in the well-worn Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira gem ''I'm Glad There Is You." Moreover, it belongs to a musician inclined to co-write a funk tune -- ''Back to the Ground" -- with the eclectic English rock musician Ed Harcourt. Cullum could be just the chap to resuscitate fusion from the torpid fringes.