Jools Holland, pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter chats with Kevin Cooper about working with Brian Eno, going to Buckingham Palace with Ruby Turner to receive her MBE, his perfect Christmas and his latest album Piano

Jools Holland, OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and he has worked with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine and Bono.

Since 1992, he has hosted Later… with Jools Holland, a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual Hootenanny show is based. He also hosts the weekly programme Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2, which is a mix of live and recorded music and general chat and features studio guests, along with members of his orchestra.

He has also written an autobiography entitled Barefaced Lies And Boogie Woogie Boasts.

Whilst busy preparing for Christmas, he took the time to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Mr Holland how are you today?

Hi Kevin, it’s nice to be speaking to you again. I’m very well thank you how are you?

I am great thank you and let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

Not at all it’s my pleasure.

I recently reviewed and photographed your show here in Nottingham at the Royal Concert Hall.

Did you really. We always have a great time up there in Nottingham and the Royal Concert Hall is such a wonderful place for us to play. We all do really enjoy the time that we get to spend in Nottingham. There is always such a nice atmosphere whenever we play there.

I suppose that we really should talk about your new album, Piano. I have been playing it for a couple of weeks now and I have to say that I think that it is a wonderful piece of work.

Thank you very much, that is so nice of you to say because I personally feel that every pianist has their own voice. It doesn’t matter at what level you are at or who you are, I like to think that pianists are identifiable simply by their playing. Whether I like it or not, I am instantly recognisable by my playing; that is who I am. Some people like that, some people don’t but I cannot do it any other way. It is what comes out of me naturally I suppose.

Am I correct in saying that you found this album slightly harder to make than you had anticipated?

Yes that’s correct, I actually did find this album more of a challenge than I had first thought that it would be. At first I had thought that it would be quite fun because there is quite a lot of self-study in there. After a while, I realised that I hadn’t been paying attention or really listening to what I was playing, I was just playing without thinking. I found myself having to think about it a lot more but anyway, I am pleased with the result.

I love your interpretation of the Floyd Kramer song Last Date. I think that you have captured the essence of the song perfectly.

Thank you, that’s nice of you to say that and that, is exactly what I was trying to do with that piece. Brian Eno, who as you will no doubt remember was with Roxy Music and who has produced the likes of U2 and Coldplay, and also makes soundscapes for airports. Brian is like an abstract artist with music. I was chatting with Brian about the album and he told me that the person who he admired the most was Floyd Kramer. Floyd’s playing was so understated and so un-busy, he invented a whole new style of playing of his own which I really liked, so Brian and I decided to do a track together. Brian came up with the ambient sound, and I put the piano on top.

It was great because I think that we somehow managed to capture Floyd’s playing but in a modern concept whilst maintaining the understatement of it all. Floyd Kramer was unusual in the fact that he and Ramsey Lewis were amongst the last people who were popular pianists who were modern and poppy in their time.

You have mentioned Brian (Eno), what’s it like having him on board?

It is really great because he is very abstract. What was interesting is that Brian told me to play the piano slightly softer which I did and the interesting thing is that he understands technology incredibly well. We went into a little studio that he knew, recorded the track and after that the piano played itself back to me (laughter). It was then that Brian could put the track back together exactly as he wanted it. It was just like working with a scientist who analysed each bit very carefully. Brian Eno is an amazing man, who approaches things in an abstract way. He is certainly one of the most extraordinary record producers that I have ever worked with. You always have the feeling that whatever you are looking at in your life, if you are thinking of rearranging your rooms, re-editing your book or whatever it was, Brian Eno would be the man to ask.

Are you pleased with just how well the album has been received?

Well to be honest with you, I really don’t know if it has been received so well. What I will say is that we have released the album and I am pleased that some of the people like it (laughter). There is always a worry whenever you release an instrumental record because people tend not to buy instrumental records these days. Therefore it is always harder to make it sell as a record. However, it was important for me to get the record out there as a document. The thing is that most people associate me with the piano, and I am always playing the piano whether I am at home, on the stage, in the recording studio or in the television studio; I am always plugging into this same thing which I have done forever, so I thought that it would be good for me to capture it.

The piano, who is my very dear friend, is always playing a secondary role and becomes the accompanist’s tool rather than the lead instrument so I thought that it would be nice to be able to put it under the spotlight for a while. However, in order to be able to do that that you have to brush it up a little bit (laughter). You have to comb its hair, clean its teeth and straighten its tie (laughter).

The album contains eighteen tracks, eight being your original compositions and ten tracks which are your interpretations of the work of the pianists and composers that you love. How did you select the ten which finally made it onto the album?

Well I have to say that started a very long time ago now. If I ever heard a piano player playing something that bought that piece of music to life, then I would always want to play that piece of music in a slightly different way. For example, when I was growing up I would always hear the blues piano, I would always be listening to Jimmy Yancey, I really loved that music and I always wanted to play something in the vein of what he would do. And of course some people thought that whilst it was marvellous blues piano they also thought that what he was doing was a bit naive, but that is sometimes the hardest thing to play. To be able to play that simply whilst still managing to get all of that emotion into the blues really is something special.

That is all down to the feel of the person who is playing the piano and is one of the things that I wanted to do. What you want the audiences to connect with is the feeling of it all really. Of course you want them to also appreciate the technique but you don’t want it to get in the way with a dazzling array of notes, that’s not what I am after really, so I really did want to cover his piece of music. Freddie Slack is another piano player who I really like and Freddie worked with a big band back in the 1940’s so we decided to do our version of his song, Strange Cargo which has a rather strange, dark feel to it. Last Date which we have already spoken about is our take on Floyd Kramer.

Roll ‘Em is a track by Mary Lou Williams who is a person who I always really did like. Not only did I like her piano playing, I also liked her attitude very much. She was the person who said that most of the piano players sound the same but also added that all piano players have their own voice. She also said that you have got to love what you play and play what you love. She had an incredible vibe about her which made me want to cover something of hers. Then you will find a Sidney Bechet number on the album, and what you have to remember is that he was a soprano saxophone player. I just liked what he played so much that I wanted to play one of his tunes.

So as you can see the choices of songs that have made it onto the album are all based upon the piano players who have at some time inspired me really I suppose. There is also an Erroll Graner tune because I like the way that he played a tune. I always indentified with Erroll because he said “I compose music, I play music but I don’t bother to read or write it” (laughter).

There are two covers that I particularly like, Eruption by Focus and Dr. John’s Dorothy.

Well, thank you very much for that. I should have mentioned those two so well spotted, thank you very much (laughter). Dorothy was written by Dr. John who is a very dear friend of mine and he wrote that piece well over twenty-five years ago now for his mother. So I would like to dedicate that song to all of the mums everywhere. It is such a sweet piece but I don’t actually know how you would describe it. It is a very sweet kind of piano playing but I don’t have the word for it. As you quite correctly say Eruption is by Focus who as you know are a Dutch prog rock group (laughter) and I think that the lead was originally played by the guitar player Jan Akkerman.

I have always liked the tune and thought that it would be great to do it on the piano but I never got round to it. So it really was nice to be able to put it out on this album. It’s an abstract piece but the great thing about music is that there are no rules. If I like a tune I will go home and play it on the piano and then ask myself if it works. If it does then I will go on to think whether I should record this with a full backing track or maybe do it with just the piano. However, whichever path I decide to take, it all has to come from the tune sounding okay on the piano to start with.

Now please don’t take this the wrong way, but whenever I listen to Bumble Boogie I immediately have a vision of an old silent black and white movie where Buster Keaton is trying to rescue the heroine off the railway tracks.

Really, I think that is a great compliment. It is fast and when we play it live there is a lot of it and it is quite a piece to deliver; I think that it has certain strength to it. What is good is that the audiences seem to love it. It is almost as though you can’t keep up with it. I think that I originally heard that piece of music when I was a kid and now just to make the classical music people very cross, I have inserted Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in the middle of it together with some weird effects going on. That particular prelude is, in my opinion, some of the prettiest music that has ever been written.

Being a typical German he could have called it something about love, God, the sun, nature, whatever but no, I just love the fact that being German he just called the piece Prelude No. 1 (laughter). It was a mere number to him (laughter). It is so beautiful and he also said that he had written it in the hopes that it would inspire young people to play the piano. He thought that it was so pretty that they would want to learn to play the piano. I thought, that is good enough for me, I am that person and I will follow this great man.

What would you say has been the best Christmas gift that you have received?

Well, I have to say that the thing is that I have to be very careful because I will say something and then whenever anybody reads this, they will say ‘well hang on a minute; you didn’t mention those really expensive gifts that I got you’ (laughter). So with you being up there in Nottingham I will keep this to a local interest. There is a wonderful man who lives in Nottingham who made me some miniature speed cameras for my model railway. So I would like to thank him because that is one of the best Christmas gifts that I have ever had. That’s pretty abstract; I bet no one has ever said that to you before, and we can all have socks (laughter).

To be honest, of course I love Christmas and I think that it is such a magical time celebrating the birth of Christ which is great, but the present thing, when my children were small I gave them presents but once they were grown up it started to get a little exhausting, and I am always fearful of giving them something that they don’t want; dolls for example (laughter).

What would you say is your favourite Christmas song?

Well there are a few actually. I always like hearing Stevie Wonder’s What Christmas Means To Me. I love that record because of the theme, it’s just so great. Although actually the theme that he talks about are none of the things associated with Christmas at all (laughter). He’s talking about the mistletoe and the chestnuts on the fire, but to be honest, to me it is more about remembering the birth of Christ, the family Christmas, and me doing all of my shopping on Christmas Eve after lunch, coming home with a turkey and a Christmas tree in a Dickensian kind of fashion complete with a cigar (laughter). Stevie never mentions any of that in his song but I just love it, it makes me happy.

I suppose really that the best Christmas song is Handel’s Messiah. That’s a really great one, you can’t knock that. I wish I had written that although Handel didn’t fit it into three minutes (laughter).

What would be your perfect Christmas?

Well, as I touched upon, for a start I like to do all of my shopping on Christmas Eve after a rather long lunch. Then I will pop to the shops and get a few last minute gifts for people knowing that they are not really going to want them and that they are going to rewrap them and give them to someone else for their birthday probably (laughter). Then, for me, it is about being with friends and family together with the warmth and joy that all of that brings, together with relaxing and also committing a few simple acts of kindness to total strangers, giving them the gift’s because you know that your family aren’t going to want them.

I will tell you what I won’t have though, I like having my lunch and dinner at the same time, although I don’t mean having them simultaneously, I won’t suddenly be having my lunch at a different time just because it is Christmas. I really do like to have my Christmas dinner in the evening.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

That is a great question, let me think. First of all if you were to ask me how I would define a piece of music that is good, it would be the fact that when it was finished you would immediately want to hear it again. So you would put it straight on again and think that it was a really great song or piece of music. Let me think, I was with Imelda May the other evening, she came round to my house and we played Peto Schiffer who is a 1930’s opera singer singing the old French song Chasseur d’Amour which when translated is the Pleasures Of Love. Whoever wrote Can’t Help Falling In Love With You took the melody from the front of that song. It was so crackly, so pretty and we were so pissed it really was lovely (laughter). It really was so enchanting.

I have to ask you what was it like going to Buckingham Palace with Ms Turner to see her receive her MBE?

Well, that was a great treat for me because I didn’t have to say anything; all I had to do was watch. It was so wonderful to see her looking dazzling, it was a great joy. At an event such as that you are surrounded by people who are being honoured for all sorts of things, in different spheres. Often spheres that are far more challenging and important than the things that we are doing, which is making music and enjoying ourselves. There were fireman, policeman, nurses; people who work in far more dangerous professions than we do. However, there was a great feeling there, I think that she had a lot of fans there, and it was just so very touching.

I went with her mum and another of her friends and it was very touching to see her receiving the award. What was really great about it was that everyone else in the room was as pleased as she was. Everybody there thought that it was so great and a really great celebration. Then afterwards we all went and had a great big lunch which was very nice (laughter).

So what next for Jools Holland?

Well, I am going to continue trying to figure out the piano which I feel is a lifetime’s work for me. And then of course I will be getting myself ready for Christmas. More to the point what will you be getting up to at Christmas Kevin?

That’s easy, a nice quiet family Christmas for me.

I have to say that sounds wonderful.

I was recently speaking to Glenn Tilbrook here in Nottingham and when he knew that I was going to be speaking to you he asked me to pass on his best as he hasn’t seen you or spoken to you for a while.

Glenn is great and he is one of the greatest composers that we have ever had. He really is great.

I have been trying to find a copy of your album Solo Piano for a while now and I have finally found a copy on Amazon today which is currently available for £152.

Bloody hell, how can they sell it so cheap (laughter)?

Mr. Holland on that note let me once again say thank you for taking the time to speak to me, it’s been a pleasure once again.

Thank you Kevin, you make sure that you have a great Christmas and I look forward to speaking to you again. Bye for now.

Jools Holland & His Rhythm And Blues Orchestra with special guest Chris Difford perform at The Thoresby Estate Nottinghamshire on Sunday 21st August 2016

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Usually the Sunday night of the Flashback Festival weekend ends with guests that produce gentle and serene performances. Not so this year as Jools Holland & His Rhythm And Blues Orchestra made sure that these three days of music at the lovely Thoresby Estate, ended with a bang and not a whimper.

With the British summer weather again being unpredictable, the evening began with a delightful performance from vintage jazz musicians, Martyna Wren and Greg Coulson. Showing just how talented they are, the crowd were treated to The Lions Share, The Right Place, and Storm In A Teacup. With their delightful vocals and great musical skills, this audience showed their appreciation as they finished their set with a cover of Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Up next was Mark Flanagan, who in 1988 moved next door to Jools Holland and has since been a guitarist in his Rhythm And Blues Orchestra. He delighted this crowd with his own set which included songs from his albums; All The Way To Brixton, Carry Me Down and The Chosen Few. Jools Holland is known for surrounding himself with great musicians, and Mark Flanagan is no exception.

If you are a rhythm and blues fan and you love boogie woogie, then there was no other place to be as Jools Holland and his immensely talented Orchestra took to the stage. With the awesome Holland on the ivories, he was also joined by Louise Marshall and Beth Rowley, who both performed immense solos.

With a set which included an explosion of styles, showcasing everything from blues to jazz and boogie woogie, a spot of big band with a great dollop of soul and R‘n’B as well as some scorching gospel, there was something for everyone.

Regularly touring with a special guest, last night was no exception as Chris Difford of Squeeze fame took to the stage to deliver Up The Junction, Take Me I’m Yours and Cool For Cats. Having been given the Jools Holland treatment these great songs were given a new lease of life.

As well as great musical solos from this very talented band, and with the crowd buzzing, Ruby Turner appeared to take the whole thing up a notch further. With her incredible voice her version of Peace In The Valley produced goose bumps on top of goose bumps and rattled every window of Thoresby Hall.

Finishing with Enjoy Yourself It’s Later Than You Think, the party had come to an end. The crowd were very wet and it was late but they had certainly enjoyed themselves.

Jools Holland, pianist, band leader, singer, composer and television presenter chats with Kevin Cooper about his friendship with Ruby Turner, receiving the OBE, meeting his heroes on Later…With Jools Holland and his forthcoming appearance at The Thoresby Estate.

Jools Holland, OBE, DL is an English pianist, band leader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze along with Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Gilson Lavis and John Bentley.

In 1987, Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and Gilson Lavis the drummer from Squeeze. This gradually became the 18-piece Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra which often includes singer Ruby Turner and his younger brother, singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Christopher Holland.

Since 1992, he has hosted Later… with Jools Holland; a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny is based. He is also a published author and appears on television shows besides his own and often contributes to radio shows. He also regularly hosts the weekly programme Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2, which is a mix of live and recorded music, general chat and features studio guests, along with members of his orchestra.

He received an OBE in 2003 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to the British Music Industry as a television presenter and musician. In September 2006 Holland was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent and was appointed an honorary fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009.

Whilst busy preparing for his forthcoming summer Festival appearances, he took the time to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Mr Holland good morning how are you today?

I’m very good thanks Kevin, how are you?

Thanks for asking, and I am fine thank you.

And where do I find you as I speak to you at this moment?

I’m in Nottingham.

Excellent. That’s lovely. I have a fondness for Nottingham as my dad was stationed up there with the RAF when he was undergoing his National Service. He always used to enjoy going back there; I think that he may have had a girlfriend up there or something (laughter).

Before we move on may I just thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

It’s my pleasure and let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me. It’s great to talk to you.

And just how is life treating you at this moment in time?

Life is great thank you. It’s a nice morning. We did a show late the other night so we got ourselves some Lebanese takeaway which I am just having for my breakfast. Sometimes a curry can be nice the next day if you microwave it, but to be honest with you the Lebanese food was far better when we bought it (laughter).

Now I have to say that you have made me feel rather old this morning because I was trying to remember the first time that I saw you playing with Squeeze. It was back in 1980 at The Milton Keynes Bowl when you were supporting The Police.

Oh yes, was that with Squeeze or was I on my own?

No, you were with Squeeze. Also on the bill were Tom Robinson, UB40 and The Police.

Ah, I remember it well; it poured with rain. That was a very 1980’s bill which I love by the way. With all of those people it was a great 1980’s line-up.

And all for £6.

Exactly. And to be honest I think that we all got paid £6 as well (laughter).

I recently interviewed Tom (Robinson) who told me that Sting still owed him £1 which Tom had loaned him whilst they were in the bar.

Well, all that I can say is that it is typical of Tom to remember that (laughter) and just like Sting to forget it (laughter).

You have mentioned your fondness for Nottingham and I see that you are bringing your Rhythm & Blues Orchestra to the area twice this year. You are playing the Thoresby Estate on Sunday 21^st August and then The Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday 30^th November.

Yes we are, that’s right. We are closing the Flashback Festival at the Thoresby Estate although I hate to think just what we are harping back to, the 1920’s no doubt (laughter). I personally am looking forward to playing there very much and I am sure that it will be great fun. What you have to remember is that my Rhythm & Blues Orchestra is a huge machine and it is a great sound to bring to a festival setting. It will be lovely. Plus we always enjoy playing at The Concert Hall which is lovely and always has a great atmosphere. I am truly looking forward to both dates up there in Nottingham.

Ours is the only big band that is left which tours on the sort of grand scale that we do and I feel that it is great that people will come out and support us. We have five trombones, a full trumpet section, a piano and Gilson Lavis on the drums who you will recall was with me in Squeeze, and who has been there forever, together with Chris my brother on the organ. We have Louise Marshall who sings with us who is absolutely fantastic together with Beth Rowley who is great. And then on top of all of that we have Ruby Turner who is the fire and the rain and one of the few people who has crossed from the world of Gospel music into the Blues and Boogie-Woogie. Ruby has successfully mashed all of that together.

Don’t you have an old friend coming up to Nottingham with you?

That’s right Kevin. He is not with us all of the time but we will have Chris Difford with us who as you will know also used to play with me in Squeeze. Chris is coming up with us to do a couple of things which will be great fun.

Performing indoors or outdoors; do you have a preference?

I think that if it is a really nice evening then performing outdoors is magical but you are rather weather dependant. There is something really great about being outdoors and performing in a clearing in the woods. You most definitely get a great vibe from playing in a place such as that so I think that it can be really special. What you have to remember is that no two concerts are ever going to be the same. However, playing outdoors in the right circumstances can be a magical thing.

When you first took your Rhythm & Blues Orchestra out on the road could you ever have imagined just how popular it would be?

No, I had no idea at all. However, what you have to remember is that when we first started it was just me and Gilson the drummer and I used to say “ladies and gentlemen please welcome to the stage Gilson Lavis” and he would come out and he was the big band. It has literally slowly evolved into a big band and as the orchestra grew its popularity grew. I am just so pleased that people like it and that they come out and see it because without those people it simply wouldn’t exist. Also what you have to remember is that it is not a sound-alike orchestra, we actually do play our own music.

Obviously we do play the odd Duke Ellington or Count Basie number but we also play our own songs too. In there are elements of Ska music, Blues music together with my own music and some British Pop music which is all mashed up into the one thing. That’s what keeps us alive and why people come to see us. That’s what we live for really.

You fondly mention Gilson; you have been playing together now for over thirty-five years. It must be a special kind of relationship that the two of you have?

I think that there is a great thing that if you play music a lot with people, then you don’t really have to use words too much. You don’t have to say to them “would you mind playing it like this”, you understand what one another are looking for in the music and I think that is one of the things that Gilson has always had. The other thing is that he is such a fantastic drummer to watch. He is not just a great drummer; you simply can’t stop watching him play. Drummers are literally the heartbeat of every band. You can’t have a good band without a good drummer, and if you go back through the history of all of the great bands they always have to change drummers before they can move on to the next level.

Whether that be The Beatles, Oasis, or whatever there is always a drummer change which then allows them to move onto the next level. So I had better change our drummer (laughter).

You have performed with some of the greats; is there anyone whom you would like to perform with but it’s not quite worked out to date?

I suppose that first of all my first thoughts would go to the dead artists. I think that it would have been great to have done something with John Lennon. It would have been great to have been in a group with John Lennon, Bessie Smith and maybe Bach arranging the strings with Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet. But that was not going to be. However I feel that I have been very fortunate especially with the newer artists like Amy Winehouse or the great legendary artists like Tom Jones. I have been very fortunate to perform and record and do shows with those people. I have been blessed to have been able to work with some of the greatest artists in the world.

I have always loved Aretha Franklin and it would be wonderful if I could do something with her but unfortunately she doesn’t like to travel and also she doesn’t like to fly. It is not always people that are well known or legends, quite often there are new people who come along who you are really surprised by just how great they are and the great music that you could make together. That is the thing to try and remember and that is the music, and for me you are the servants of the song. Then it all works out.

I have to ask you, just how special is Ruby Turner?

As far as I am concerned she is the greatest. I have to say that she is a dear friend of mine, we have been around the world together and she is like an aunt to my children. That aside I have had the privilege really of seeing her from my point of view, from sitting at the piano. I watch her perform and nobody has the effect that she has. She comes out onto the stage and has a complete belief in what she is doing. She delivers the songs straight from her heart. There is absolutely nothing phoney about her, it is real; this is it. What you are getting is Ruby being Ruby. You are not getting Ruby pretending to be somebody else. She simply delivers this thing that comes out of another place.

Half of the stuff that we play is stuff that either I have written or she has written. We also play a lot of early Gospel music and she makes all of it her own. She breathes this fire, this life into it. Songs are a little like lanterns; they need to be illuminated and if you manage to get the right artist then the song comes to life. And that is what Ruby does, she brings the songs to life because she is so proud of them and that is what is really great about her. It doesn’t matter if it is one of our songs, a 1930’s Gospel song or a 1950’s Blues song, Ruby will always bring that same thing to it. People can see that and they understand that. Ruby gets the songs with her heart; she can see them, she can feel them and she can understand what it is and that is very clear straightaway.

If I had to push you what has been the highlight of your career so far?

Well I suppose that would have to be this moment now we are chatting (laughter). A friend of mine once told me that the great gurus always say that if this does this and that does that then tomorrow will be the best day ever. However, I always think that paradise is now. I also get a great feeling whenever we play next. I suppose that if I was to look back and pick out one thing it would most probably be a small moment on stage when I feel totally connected with the audience at that one moment in time. It’s great when you see that they are feeling the music as you are and they are tapping their feet and moving in time to the music that you are playing.

That is the highlight for me. Being at one with a load of people who are getting the music that you are playing. You can’t ask people to love the music that you are playing unless you love the music yourself. That oneness with the people has been the highlight for me. That was a rather longwinded answer I’m afraid Kevin but I’m sure that you will understand what I am saying. If you can put that into one sentence, well done (laughter).

Later… with Jools Holland has now been on the TV for forty-two series. When you aired the very first series could you ever imagine yourself still doing it in 2016?

No not at all. If you had said to me when you and I bumped into one another backstage at Milton Keynes Bowl when I was trying to settle the argument between Sting and Tom trying to get Tom’s quid back with the help of UB40; if you had appeared to me in a strange veil informing me that you could show me the future and then have taken me into a tent, and you had told me that I would be running a big band consisting of twenty people that would tour all over the world and I would also have this TV show, I would have thought that’s not what I am planning. As they always say if you want to make God laugh then tell him your plans. Things just happen sometimes.

I am really pleased with the way that things have turned out and I am really pleased because I love what I do. I love the music we play but I would never have dreamed that would be the way that things were going to turn out for me. That also goes for Later…I presented The Tube for five years and that seemed forever when I was twenty. After that we started doing Later…and I thought that it was fun and that it would probably last for three series. The longer that it stays on TV it gets harder to believe. I also think that we have been fortunate to have some of the greatest artists in the world, sometimes at the beginning of their careers and sometimes at their last performances.

It’s also great for me because as people come back to appear on the show again I have in fact become friends with a lot of my musical heroes, which for me is both incredible and unbelievable. The world has gone mad. It used to be that if you went and worked for someone such as British Rail then you would have a job for life but all of that has changed now. You used to think that if you went in to do a TV show then at best it would last for five minutes. However Later…has simply gone on and on and on. I think that the reason for the show going on and on is not because it is about me, it is because it has got new music on it all of the time.

The show reinvents itself every week and not because there is a brand new band on there from so and so, that is just one small element of the show. You might have a musician or an artist on the show who is in their seventies, who is very big in the world of what their particular genre is, but who the broader public are not aware of, which is another part of it as well. We also try to get a legendary figure on there from mainstream music and so you get that mix from all manner of different things. But of course the great thing about music is if you have not heard it before and you love it then it doesn’t matter whether the piece of music was written five minutes ago or five hundred years ago, it is still new to you. It is still fresh.

Again with Later…is there anyone that you would like to have on the show but as yet you have not quite managed to get them on there?

Well I think that we would love to get Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder; they are the two people who you would like to tick on the box I suppose. The Rolling Stones would be good but they don’t need it really as wonderful as they are. Although having said that, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts came onto the show with Charlies Boogie-Woogie Band. Also to get Aretha Franklin onto the show would be wonderful too, so legendary people really.

Was it always going to be a career in music for you?

Honestly, I don’t think that I would have been very good at anything else. I don’t think that I would have been such a success at anything else. So in that respect I am really pleased that it has worked out and that music has been my life. However, I must say that I am pretty amazed at the way that it has worked out for me. I think that the most important thing for me is that I have loved what I have played and I have played what I love. I think that is the hardest thing to do in music. Then as you get older you play what you mean and you mean what you play which makes you stronger, or at least I hope you get stronger.

In these days of reformations will we ever see a full Squeeze reunion?

In some ways, when we come up to Nottingham, there will be because there will be three of us on the stage, me, Gilson and Chris Difford. So you have got three fifths of us there I suppose. I would never rule anything out because it is a bit like being backstage at The Milton Keynes Bowl in 1980. If you had told me that I would have been doing this and this, I would have said to you “you are having a laugh, get away and take your crystal ball and your strange veil away” (laughter). What I will say is that you can never tell but we do not have anything planned.

What was the first record that you bought?

That would have been For Once In My Life by Stevie Wonder and to this day it is still probably one of the most incredibly constructed pieces of pop music that I have ever heard. It is a lovely song that is squashed into about two and a half minutes; it has a key change, it has a harmonica solo that you can’t believe and on top of all of that something different happens every five seconds which you can’t believe. I actually took up the chromatic harmonica after hearing that song and then after about six months I put the chromatic harmonica down again (laughter).

Who did you first see playing live in concert?

When I was about thirteen years old I was taken along to see Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins and I can still remember being very impressed with that. It was at The Royal Albert Hall in 1972.

You were awarded the OBE in 2003, how did that feel?

I was very touched, and honoured and felt that it was recognition not just for me but for Boogieists everywhere, because that style of music is not as well recognised as other styles of music. I was very flattered and also very humbled because when I got there you see that you are getting it for music but there are people there who are nurses, doctors, teachers, firemen, policemen and service people who are really working hard for it and are doing things that are saving people’s lives. It makes you feel even more humble if you get something and you see the gravity of the other people who are getting it and what they are doing.

I recently asked Courtney Pine the same question and he said that he is still waiting for someone to knock on his door and take his awards away.

(Laughter) he’s talking about me (laughter) once I have got the quid back off Sting I am going round to see Courtney (laughter).

On that note let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me, it’s been great.

It’s my pleasure and it’s been very nice to speak to you Kevin. Thanks again and please do come and say hello when we get to Nottingham.

The burning question on everyone’s lips was, just how would Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra follow up the hugely successful release of Golden Age Of Song back in 2011, which went on to sell almost 200k copies in the UK alone.

Well the answer was simple; Holland is back with a brand new album together with an elite gathering of world-class female artists. His new album, Sirens Of Song, highlights Holland’s talent for being one half of some of the most amazing collaborations. This latest offering features duets between the man himself and some of the most iconic female voices in both contemporary and classic music. For example, he is joined by Kylie, Emeli Sande, Joss Stone, Laura Mvula, Imelda May and Rumer to name just a few.

Sirens Of Song is a true showcase in musicianship and combines an array of wonderful performers with Holland’s outstanding talent, together with big band support from his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. The 14 track album features a selection of original tracks and reworked classics. There are also posthumous contributions from Eartha Kitt with Ain’t Misbehavin’ and the Amy Winehouse cover of Toots And The Maytals classic track, Monkey Man. Apart from these two tracks, which were originally recorded for Holland’s TV show, everything else here was specifically recorded for this album.

Ruby Turner opens the proceedings with a cover of Ray Charles Jumping In The Morning which sets the tone for the rest of the album. Turner is the only artist to be given two songs to perform; the original I still Went Wrong being the other.

One track which is especially pleasing on the ears is KT Tunstall performing an excellent interpretation of the Cole Porter classic Night And Day showing exactly what a fine voice she has. On the subject of fine voices, Emile Sande also sings an oldie; Love Me Or Leave Me, which most of us will remember being covered by Doris Day for a biopic about the original artist who recorded this song, Ruth Etting.

There are many fine recordings on Sirens Of Song including Kylie’s cover of Should I Stay Or Should I Go originally recorded by The Clash. Here Holland manages to find that perfect blend of a music cocktail by inviting a global superstar into the Holland studio to sing a Jones and Strummer Clash punk classic.

The stand out track for me is Melanie C’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s I Wish. With Melanie’s voice together with a pinch of the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra the whole thing comes alive and rapidly becomes something very personal and spellbinding.

A word of special mention must go out for the inclusion of Eartha Kitt performing Ain’t Misbehavin’ which can only be described as a truly magical moment. This was recorded during a performance on the Later… show back in the spring of 2008. Let’s just be thankful that the performance still exists and was included on this album.

You can hear it in Holland’s playing that he is inspired by the fact that he was able to both collaborate and work with such a diverse and dazzling array of talent; who hail from all sorts of genres spanning from today and back to the jazz age. That inspiration is there for all to hear and enjoy.

Our Rating: (5 / 5)

Jools Holland And His Rhythm And Blues Orchestra perform at The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham on Saturday 8^th November 2014

[See image gallery at www.ukmusicreviews.co.uk]

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra brought the greatest boogie woogie party to The Royal Concert Hall last night and from the first it was clear that Jools Holland and company intended to take no prisoners. He opened with a barnstorming boogie and when the full band entered the fray, the result was an explosion of styles and excitement. It was impossible to sit still for long because within seconds the infectious rhythms seeped into your soul and your body started to move involuntarily.

The fifteen band members and two backing singers were out to have a good time. With big smiles on their faces, they were versatile, entertaining and sensationally good. Under Holland’s direction they played everything from blues to jazz and boogie woogie. There was a spot of big band, a slew of reggae, a big fat dollop of soul and R ‘n’ B, some scorching gospel and a generous helping of rock and roll.

Jools is not a man to hog the spotlight and he generously provided moments for all his band members to shine. Each solo was followed by a name check which is why the majority of his orchestra have a long history with him. His backing singers were also given their own spot, with Mabel Ray delivering a soulful Sweet Bitter Love and Louise Marshall showing us how Valentine Moon should really be sung.

Much as the stars flocked to appear with Morecombe and Wise back in the day, it seems that you’re not anyone these days until you have done a number with Jools backing. And so it was that a gleeful Marc Almond bounded onto the stage as the fantastically talented brass section backed him for a Vegas friendly version of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. Stop In The Name Of Love was also given the treatment whilst Tainted Love got the audience to its feet.

From then on the party was in full swing. Hit The Road Jack and a ska version of Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ kept us dancing, and despite the name of the orchestra, numbers like When You’re Smiling and When The Sun Goes Down were perfect to banish any blues.

It is hard to find the words to describe Jools’s performance on the piano. The giant screen behind him, showed that the speed and skill with which he plays is spell binding, and whilst he paid homage to some of the greatest piano players in the business; the quality of the musicianship on the stage would be hard to beat.

If Jools is something of a musical evangelist, then he has the perfect partner in the gospel voiced Ruby Turner who was next up to deliver an up tempo end to the evening which came to a stunning crescendo with a solo filled boogie version of Peace In The Valley. Her voice is so powerful that if your windows were rattling at around 10pm on Saturday, then Ruby was the reason.

With everybody coming back on stage, with the exception of Marc Almond, for the encore of Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think), the party was brought to a close and the revellers reluctantly exited the auditorium to join the queue to buy the latest album release by Jools Holland, together with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Sirens Of Song on which they are joined by artists as diverse as Joss Stone, Ruby Turner, Imelda May, Amy Winehouse, Ertha Kitt and Kylie.

Whilst Jools may be an annual fixture at The Royal Concert Hall, he and his band always provide a joyous atmosphere and the music is never anything but sensational. Tonight was no exception.