Various Artists – Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm & Blues (2001)

Julian Miles Holland OBE DL (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Joss Stone, Jayne County, Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Ringo Starr and Bono.

From 1982 until 1987, he co-presented the Channel 4 music programme The Tube. Since 1992, he has hosted Later… with Jools Holland, a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny is based. Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own. He regularly hosted the programme Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2. In 2004 he collaborated with Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music.

Holland was born on 24 January 1958 in Blackheath, South East London. At the age of eight, he could play the piano fluently by ear. By his early teens he was appearing regularly in many of the pubs in South East London and the East End Docks.

Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in southeast London, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher’s Triumph Herald.

Holland began his career as a session musician. His first studio session was with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in 1976 on their track “Fuck Off”

Holland was a founding member of the British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1980, through its first three albums, the eponymous Squeeze, Cool for Cats and Argybargy, before pursuing his solo career.

Holland began issuing solo records in 1978, his first EP being Boogie Woogie ’78. He continued his solo career through the early 1980s, releasing an album and several singles between 1981 and 1984. He branched out into TV, co-presenting the Newcastle-based TV music show The Tube with Paula Yates. Holland used the phrase, “be there, or be an ungroovy fucker” in one early evening TV trailer for the show, live across two channels, causing him to be suspended from the show for six weeks. He referred to this in his sitcom The Groovy Fellers with Rowland Rivron. Holland also appeared as a guest host on MTV.

In 1983, Holland played an extended piano solo on The The’s re-recording of “Uncertain Smile” for the album Soul Mining. In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland’s absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Holland as their keyboard player. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point he again departed to resume his solo career as a musician and a TV host.

In 1987, Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and for the show Gilson Lavis from Squeeze, which gradually grew and was renamed as Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. In May 2022, it was a 17-piece orchestra and included singers Louise Marshall, Ruby Turner and Holland’s daughter Mabel Ray, as well as his younger brother, singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Christopher Holland.

Between 1988 and 1990 Holland performed and co-hosted along with David Sanborn during the two seasons of the music performance programme Sunday Night on NBC late-night television. Since 1992, he has presented the music programme Later… with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny.

In 1996, Holland signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records,[4] and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records.

On 29 November 2002, Holland was in the ensemble of musicians who performed at the Concert for George, which celebrated the music of George Harrison. In January 2005 Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.[citation needed]

On BBC Radio 2 Holland regularly hosted the programme Jools Holland, a mix of live and recorded music and general chat, featuring studio guests, along with members of his orchestra.

In March 2023, Jimmy Barnes announced the formation of supergroup The Barnestormers, featuring Barnes, Chris Cheney, Slim Jim Phantom, Jools Holland and Kevin Shirley. A self-titled album was released on 26 May 2023

Although credited to Jools Holland, according to Allmusic the album is more of a collection of different songs with different singers, with Holland’s band acting as a kind of “house band” including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Van Morrison and George Harrison. The song “Horse to the Water”, which Harrison wrote with his son Dhani, is the last song recorded before Harrison’s death in 2001 and is therefore his legacy. Jools Holland was able to use the contacts he made as host of the BBC programme Later with Jools Holland for the line-up. The singers range from musical veterans such as Van Morrison and Steve Winwood to representatives of the younger generation such as Jamiroquai and Joe Strummer, a founding member of The Clash.

In addition to the majority of blues and rhythm and blues titles, other styles are also among the songs chosen, such as the ska title “Oranges and Lemons Again” with Suggs or the title “Valentine Moon” with Sam Brown. In addition to cover versions, such as “I Put a Spell on You”, there are songs that were created especially for the album (“The Return of the Blues Cowboy”, “The Hand That Changed It’s Mind”).

The album reached number 19 in the Billboard Heatseekers Charts (wikipedia)

The world of pop music is very much part of show business, and as such, there as much a culture of stars and celebrities as there is in the movies or television. And for generations, recordings have billed themselves on their star power — combining two or more musical celebrities on one song or album. More of than not, the musical combination is one undertaken with the market in mind, rather than real musical collaboration. But there are exceptions, and I think this week’s CD qualifies as an interesting, and indeed very ambitious venture into combining a remarkable number of well-known musical artists in a single recording, in a record that is also a lot of fun to listen to. It’s the newest CD by veteran British keyboard man Jools Holland, called Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm & Blues, and it has guest appearances by not less than 22 different significant, mostly British, musical figures, including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Van Morrison, Sting, and what is reputed to be the last recording by George Harrison recorded a bit more than a month before his death in November. In addition to the noted guests, the CD lives up to its title with no less than 52 studio musicians also providing accompaniment at various times, including a big band and a string orchestra.

Jools Holland is best-known for his tenure as keyboard player in the British band Squeeze. But since then, he has had a program on the BBC called “Later with Jools Holland” a music show spotlighting various well-known guests, so that provided him with the contacts that eventually led to this CD. He also is a big fan of early rock & roll, R&B and soul, and his own recordings over the years have reflected that. So those two facets were combined on this CD, with the guests doing both original songs and old standards in the style. In some cases, it’s a bit out of character for the guest, such as Sting or Soft Cell’s Marc Almond, but at others, such as for Taj Mahal, Dr. John, and Eric Clapton, it’s a perfect fit. And throughout, there is a spirit of good fun, and that really sets this CD apart from other star-studded records, which usually reduce to lowest-common-denominator light-pop. It’s interesting hearing Van Morrison doing a Louis Armstrong song, or John Cale doing some Vegas style crooning. Obviously, some parts are more successful than others, but the lighthearted nature of the CD, in which a lot of stars are apparently having fun, makes up for any of the less satisfying parts of this very generous, 80-minute CD.

Ever since the 1960s, when the British Blues phenomenon happened, with young English musicians essentially re-packaging and bringing back to American rock audiences the great American art form of the blues, the Brits have had a distinctive approach which has evolved into its own style, but still has designs on the original American recordings. Jools Holland, in his recent releases, shows that dichotomy, with echoes of the British Blues bands, but also a distinctly American retro sound, though like other Brits, he sometimes goes a little too far, with too many horns, guitars cranked up a bit too much, tempos taken a bit too fast, and not enough space in the music — something that is essential in the blues. This CD has the same kind of pumped-up, frenetic sound, and that can make this record wear a bit on the listener at times, especially after the novelty of all the stars on the same CD fades, but Holland does mix the album up stylistically some, and overall, it’s an admirable recording, and would be even if there were not as many big names on it.

Though Holland is a decent vocalist, he defers to his guests most of the time on this CD. He does sing a verse here and there, but for the most part, the guests get to sing the songs, quite of few of which were collaborative compositions between Holland and the respective guest.

The track with Sting opens the CD. It’s the old Willie Dixon blues classic Seventh Son, and it’s interesting hearing the normally sophisticated Sting getting down with the blues, and doing a very respectable job. The track illustrates the kind of big-production sound that dominates the CD.

That is followed by what turns out to be its most poignant track, Horse to the Water, featuring George Harrison, and recorded in October 2001, the month before his death. It’s a song Harrison co-wrote with his son Dhani, and while it has the upbeat sound of the rest of the CD, the cryptic, philosophical lyrics made the piece fascinating. Harrison, considering his declining health at the time, sounds in good form.  The guitar solo is presumably by George.

One of the more unusual choices of guests is Joe Strummer, a founding member of the Clash. His guest slot comes on an original joint composition by Strummer and Holland called The Return of the Blues Cowboy. It’s also the track with the least instrumentation. Despite the some tasteful piano work by Holland, Strummer shows he is not exactly a blues singer.

Dr. John appears on another original joint composition with Holland called The Hand That Changed Its Mind. Holland does the introductory lead vocal, before the Dr. John makes his entrance. Musically, the track perhaps best captures the spirit of jump band blues that for which Holland seems always to be striving.

There are some slower tracks, including an unexpected treatment of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ classic I Put a Spell on You, sung by Mica Paris with guitar from Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. The result quite engaging, though the addition of the string section does go a bit over the top.

Another of the most fascinating combinations is the track featuring Van Morrison, the Louis Armstrong composition, Back o’ Town Blues. The arrangement maintains the spirit of the original music, though like a lot of Holland’s work, the tempo is a little too fast and there are too many horns.

Dire Straits founder Mark Knopfler appears in a straight rockabilly arrangement of his song called Mademoiselle Will Decide. Although Knopfler has explored the edges of this style with Dire Straits, this track works particularly well.

The CD is not without some disappointments. One of my favorite acoustic bluesmen, Eric Bibb, makes an appearance on All That You Are, a song he co-wrote with Holland. The song’s lyrics lend themselves to the kind of intimate arrangements that mark Bibb’s own albums, but the arrangement here is more along the lines of a Phil Spector production, and it just sounds overblown.

Steve Winwood, who got his start in the British Blues days, appears on what is definitely one of the CD’s highlights, I’m Ready, another Willie Dixon song, first recorded by Muddy Waters.

John Cale, who first came to fame as a member of the Velvet Underground, appears on I’ll Be Around an old Johnny Mercer song, done as a kind of Sinatra/Vegas production. It definitely leaves one scratching one’s head wondering if it was serious, or done as high camp. It doesn’t quite work either way.

The CD ventures into some ska on two tracks. One features Jamiroquai doing another Tin Pan Alley standard I’m in the Mood for Love. Despite the interesting concept, the result has a kind of perfunctory sound, never really catching fire.

The final track features Eric Clapton in a soulful performance of Ray Charles’ What Would I Do without You. In this case all the horns and strings work well, and Clapton is in great form.

Even among all-star recordings, Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm & Blues is impressive for its roster of special guests, who also include Taj Mahal, Paul Weller, Chris Difford, Holland’s former band-mate in Squeeze, The Stereophonics, and Mick Hucknall. The fact that the music is fun, and generally unpretentious also sets this project apart. About the only drawback is the fact that the CD very much lives up to his title. Often the horn and string sections can be a little overwhelming often to the point of being musically bombastic. Fifty-two backing musicians can be a bit much at times, and the music can have a kind of in-your-face quality than makes one want to take at least one intermission in the course of the hour and twenty minutes of the CD.

That pushy quality also extends to the album’s sonics. The mix is heavily compressed and almost constantly loud, even when the music tries to slow down. Sometimes that results in noticeable distortion on the vocals, and it also contributes to a somewhat fatiguing sound — as interesting as it is, I felt I needed to take a break from listening after a while, especially considering the CD’s length. Some restraint in both the scale of the musical arrangements and the volume of the mix would have helped a great deal.

Even in these days of media-driven celebrity culture, it’s rare to get as many well-known artists on a single CD. But Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm and Blues despite a few lapses, is an album that’s both fascinating and a lot of fun. (by George D. Graham.)

Personnel:

Tracklist:
01. Sting: Seventh Son (Dixon) 3.04
02. George Harrison: Horse to the Water (G.Harrison/D. Harrison 5.00
03. Paul Weller: Will It Go Round in Circles (Fisher/Preston) 3.31
04. Sam Brown: Valentine Moon (Brown/Holland) 4.02
05. Joe Strummer: The Return Of Zhe Blues Cowboy (Holland/Strummer) 2.41
06. Dr. John: The Hand That Changed It’s Mind (Holland/Rebennack) 3.25
07. Ruby Turner: Nobody But You (Mann/Weil 3.45
08. Stereophonics: Revolution (Lennon/McCartney) 3.18
09. Mica Paris & David Gilmour: I Put A Spell On You (Hawkins/Russell) 4.07
10. Suggs: Oranges And Lemons Again /Holland/Suggs) 3.38
11. Eric Bibb: All That You Are (Bibb/Holland) 3.15
12. Mark Knopfler: Mademoiselle Will Decide (Knopfler) 2.24
13. Van Morrison: Back O’ Town Blues (Armstrong/Russell) 3.27
14. Chris Difford: Town And Country Rhythm And Blues (Difford/Holland) 3.49
15. John Cale: I Wanna Be Around (Mercer/Vimmerstadt) 3.04
16. Steve Winwood: I’m Ready (Dixon) 3.15
17. Marc Almond: Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Almond/Ball) 4.35
18. Mike Hucknall: T-Bone Shuffle (Walker) 3.01
19. Paul Carrack: It’s So Blue (Carrack/Holland) 4.01
20. Taj Mahal: Outskirts Of Town (Jacobs/Weldon) 4.53
21. Jamiroquai: I’m In The Mood For Love (Fields/McHugh 3.07
22. Eric Clapton: What Would I Do Without You (Charles) 3.27

*
**

More from Jools Holland in this blog:
The official website:

Sam Brown – Stop ! (1988)

Samantha Brown (born 7 October 1964) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and record producer.

Brown is a ukulele player and was a blue-eyed soul and jazz singer. She came to prominence in the late 1980s as a solo artist, releasing six singles that entered the UK Singles Chart during the 1980s and 1990s. Her solo singles, sometimes dealing with lost love included “Stop!”, “This Feeling”, “Can I Get a Witness”, “Kissing Gate”, “With a Little Love” and “Just Good Friends”. She worked as a session backing vocalist, working with artists such as Gary Moore, George Harrison, Small Faces, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Jon Lord (of Deep Purple), Pink Floyd (also David Gilmour), The Firm and Nick Cave.

Brown released her debut album Stop! in 1988. Since then, she has released five studio albums, one EP and three compilation albums, as well as three albums as part of the group Homespun, but lost her singing voice in 2007.

Samantha Brown was born on 7 October 1964, in Stratford, east London, England. She is the daughter of musician Joe Brown and session singer Vicki Brown. Brown’s first work in the music industry was in 1978 at the age of 14, when she sang backing vocals on the final studio album by the Small Faces, 78 in the Shade. She also worked as a backing vocalist with several other bands, including Spandau Ballet and with her mother on former Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord’s third solo album Before I Forget.

Brown signed a recording contract with A&M in 1986. Her most successful song with A&M was “Stop!”, released as a single in 1988. She issued an album of the same name that same year.[1] Other singles taken from the album included “Walking Back to Me”, “This Feeling” and her cover version of “Can I Get a Witness”. The album Stop! has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide,[2] doing particularly well in the UK and Australia. Brown’s second studio album, April Moon (1990), included two hit singles, “Kissing Gate” and “With a Little Love”. Three further singles were released from the album: “Mindworks”, “Once in Your Life” and “As One”. She also played the ukulele.

Brown’s third studio album, 43 Minutes…, was made around the same time that her mother was dying from breast cancer.A&M, Brown’s record label at the time, were not satisfied with the album and wanted some potential hit singles recorded and added to the track listing.[2] Brown, unwilling to compromise and after a protracted legal battle, bought back the master recordings of the album and released them in 1992 on her own label Pod Music, a year after the death of her mother. Few copies were initially released, although it was re-issued in 2004.

Brown provided backing vocals for Pink Floyd on their fourteenth studio album, The Division Bell, released in 1994 and accompanied them on their tour to promote the release.[2] Her involvement was documented on the following year’s Pink Floyd release, Pulse, in which she sang backing vocals and was the first lead vocalist on the song “The Great Gig in the Sky”. In 1995, she had a minor chart hit with a duet with fellow singer-songwriter Fish, entitled “Just Good Friends”. In 1997, Brown returned with her fourth studio album Box, released via the independent record label Demon Music Group. Tracks on this album included “Embrace the Darkness”, “Whisper” and “I Forgive You” which was co-written with Maria McKee. McKee’s version of the song originally appeared on her second album, You Gotta Sin to Get Saved.

In 2000, her fifth studio album ReBoot was released via another independent label, Mud Hut, and the single “In Light of All That’s Gone Before.” In 2003, Brown formed the band Homespun with Dave Rotheray,[1] releasing three albums. Brown also released several solo recordings in this period, including an EP, Ukulele and Voice.[1] In 2004, Jon Lord released Beyond the Notes, for which she wrote almost all the lyrics.[3] In late 2006, she undertook an extensive UK tour as special guest of her father, Joe Brown. The shows also included appearances by her brother, Pete Brown.

In 2007, seven years after her last album, Brown released Of the Moment. She also returned to the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart in October 2007, when “Valentine Moon” was included on Jools Holland’s hit album Best of Friends.

That same year she lost her singing voice, and for as yet unknown reasons has not been able to sing since. In an interview from 2013 she explained that “I can’t get vocal cord closure and achieve the proper pitch simultaneously. It feels like there are some muscles that aren’t working.” After a cyst was found on her vocal cords, she had the cyst successfully removed, but problems with her voice persisted, leaving her unable to hold a note.

Brown currently runs the International Ukulele Club of Sonning Common, the North London Ukulele Collective and the People’s Ukulele Brigade (PUB).[5] Brown is also a patron of Tech Music Schools in London, made up of Vocaltech, Guitar-X, Keyboardtech and Drumtech.

As well as her solo career, Brown has had a successful career as a backing vocalist and collaborator with other artists. She has worked with the band Barclay James Harvest (1984), David Gilmour (David Gilmour in Concert) and Pink Floyd, Deep Purple (In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra), Jon Lord, The Firm, Gary Moore, George Harrison and Nick Cave. She has often appeared as a member of Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and achieved further prominence with her 2002 performance at the Concert for George, which was a memorial to George Harrison on the first anniversary of his death,[6] where she sang “Horse to the Water”. This song is included in the film of the concert, not on the album. In 2002, she was a backing vocalist at Buckingham Palace at the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II’s concert, Party at the Palace.

In 2015, Brown started teaching backing vocals classes at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey, a school for rock and pop musicians.

Stop! is the debut studio album by the English female singer-songwriter Sam Brown. It was originally released in June 1988, on the label A&M, and was distributed by Festival in Australia. Produced by Sam Brown, her brother Pete Brown, Pete Smith, Danny Schogger, and John Madden the album was recorded at the Power Plant, in London, England, with then-Pink Floyd member David Gilmour’s guitar parts on “This Feeling” and “I’ll Be In Love” being recorded at Greene Street Studios, in New York, United States. The track “Merry Go Round” has lyrics slightly adapted from W. H. Davies poem “Leisure”. The CD edition of the album includes cover versions of Marvin Gaye’s Can I Get a Witness and Ike & Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits.

On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics. Brown’s most commercially successful solo album, it went on to peak at #4 on the UK Albums Chart and reached #13 on the Australian ARIA Charts. The album also reached the top ten in five other countries including Austria, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The album launched three charting singles in the UK. “Stop!” peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart; “This Feeling” peaked at #91; “Can I Get a Witness” at #15. The album has sold over two and a half million copies worldwide.[3] The album was certified platinum by Music Canada. In the UK, it sold more than 100,000 copies and was certified gold by the BPI.( by wikipedia)

A fine debut, full of original songs with much more depth and things going on than your average pop record. A few songs like “This Feeling”, I’ll Be in Love” and “High as a Kite” may be slightly pedestrian, but there’s nothing here I would call filler. (by Kim Alsos)
Sam Brown is a Superb artist…and this album was her debut release from 1988, though it spawned a couple of top twenty hits she has spent little time in the charts since but continues to produce some great work.

She has a huge cult following and has become an artist on the fringe of the mainstream which is a place many artists chose to be, and I believe she may be one of them; here they do not have to bow and scrape to popular demands and the whims of record producers. Here they can work freely, develop a strong fan base and maintian robust artistic integrity.

“Stop!” is recognisable now because Jamelia released it last year for the film, “Bridget Jones the edge of reason”, but she has not even half the depth and richness of voice to belt the song out like Sam does on this original. It’s an oldy but a goody and a descriptive work in terms where British pop/soul was headed in the late 80’s before the manufactured craze took over. Listen “Stop!”, and you won’t stop with Sam Brown! (by S. Hebbron)

Personnel:
Jim Abbiss (steel-guitar)
Bob Andrews (organ)
Dave Bishop (drums)
Stuart Brooks (saxophone)
Joe Brown (guitar, mandolin)
Pete Brown (guitar, keyboards, percussion, background vocals)
Sam Brown (vocals, keyboards)
Ken Craddock (organ)
Danny Cummings (percussion)
Dinesh (percussion)
Paul Fishman (keybords)
David Gilmour (guitar, background vocals)
Gavin Harrison (drums, percussion)
Jakko M. Jakszyk (guitar, background vocals)
Roland Vaughan Kerridge (drums)
Jim Leverton (bass)
Ian Maidman (bass)
Kevin Mazpas (synthesizer)
Richard Newman (drums, background vocals)
Phil Palmer (guitar)
Ed Poole (bass)
Danny Schogger (keyboards)
Danny Thompson (bass)
+
background vocals:
Vicki Brown – Margo Buchanan – Amy Caine – Helen Chappelle – Philip Saatchi – Peter Smith – Billy Vanderpuye
+
horn section:
Jeff Daly (saxophone)
Christopher Dean (trombone)
Simon Gardner (trumpet)
David Hancock (trumpet)
John Huckridge (trumpet)
Rex O’Dell (trombone)
Chris Pyne (trombone)
Steve Sidwell (trumpet)
Peter Smith (trombone)
Stan Sulzmann (saxophone)
Jamie Talbot (saxophone)
Alan Wicham (trumpet)
+
string section:
Peter Esswood (cello)
Kate Musker (viola)
J. Stringle (cello)
Bobby Valentino (violin)
Mark Wazton (violin)

Tracklist:
01.Walking Back To Me (Brown/Sutton) 3.44
02. Your Love Is All (Brown/Buchanan) 4.09
03. Stop! (Brown/Sutton/Brody) 4.56
04. It Makes Me Wonder (Brown/Buchanan) 4.36
05. This Feeling (Brown/Buchanan) 3.17
06. Tea (Brown) 0.45
07. Piece Of My Luck (Brown) 2.57
08. Ball And Chain (Brown/Schogger) 4.36
09. Wrap Me Up (Brown/Schogger) 3.13
10. I’ll Be In Love (Brown/Schogger) 5.16
11. Merry Go Round (S.Brown/V.Brown) 3.09
12. Sometimes You Just Don’t Know (Brown/Malloy/Brennan) 3.08
+
13. Can I Get A Witness (E.Holland/Dozier/B.Holland) 3.01
14. High As A Kite (Brown/Schogger) 3.26
15. Nutbush City Limits (Turner) 3.14

*
**

Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra – Jools Holland & Friends (2011)

Julian Miles “Jools” Holland, OBE, DL (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine, The The and Bono.

Since 1992, he has hosted Later… with Jools Holland, a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny is based.[1] Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own and contributes to radio shows. In 2004, he collaborated with Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music.

Holland also regularly 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.

Holland was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School, a former state grammar school on Red Lion Lane in Shooter’s Hill (near Woolwich), in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, from which he was expelled for damaging a teacher’s Triumph Herald.

Holland began his career as a session musician; his first studio session was with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in 1976 on their track “Fuck Off”.

Holland was a founding member of the British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1981 and helped the band to achieve millions of record sales, before pursuing his solo career.

Holland began issuing solo records in 1978, his first EP being Boogie Woogie ’78. He continued his solo career through the early 1980s, releasing an album and several singles between 1981 and 1984. He branched out into TV, co-presenting the Newcastle-based TV music show The Tube with Paula Yates. Holland used the phrase, “be there, or be an ungroovey fucker” in one early evening TV trailer for the show, live across two channels, causing him to be suspended from the show for six weeks. He referred to this in his sitcom The Groovy Fellers with Rowland Rivron.[citation needed] Holland also appeared as a guest host on MTV.

In 1983 Holland played an extended piano solo on The The’s re-recording of “Uncertain Smile” for the album Soul Mining. In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland’s absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Holland as their keyboard player. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point he again departed to resume his solo career as a musician and a TV host.

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

Between 1988 and 1990 he performed and co-hosted along with David Sanborn during the two seasons of the music performance programme Sunday Night on NBC late-night television.[5] Since 1992 he has presented the music programme Later… with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny.

In 1996, Holland signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records,[3] and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records.

On 29 November 2002, Holland was in the ensemble of musicians who performed at the Concert for George, which celebrated the music of George Harrison. In January 2005 Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.

On 29 August 2005, Holland married Christabel McEwen, his girlfriend of 15 years and daughter of artist Rory McEwen. Holland lives in the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath in southeast London, where he had his studio, Helicon Mountain, built to his design and inspired by Portmeirion, the setting for the 1960s TV series The Prisoner.[6] He also owns a manor house near medieval Cooling Castle in Kent.[7][8]

He appeared on the cover of Railway Modeller magazine in January 2019. In the attic of his house, Holland has spent ten years building a 100-foot (30 m) model railway. It is full of miniature buildings and landscapes that stretch from Berlin to London. He started with photographs and paintings from early 1960s London. “In the evenings, he builds some trains and buildings before switching on some music, pouring a glass of wine and switching on the trains to watch them move around the room.”

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. Holland was appointed an honorary fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009. On 1 February 2011 he was appointed honorary colonel of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment.

In June 2006 Holland performed in Southend for HIV/AIDS charity Mildmay, and in early 2007 he performed at Wells and Rochester Cathedrals to raise money for maintaining cathedral buildings. He is also patron of Drake Music.

A fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner, in 1987 Holland demonstrated his love of the series and starred in a spoof documentary, The Laughing Prisoner, with Stephen Fry, Terence Alexander and Hugh Laurie. Much of it was shot on location in Portmeirion, with archive footage of Patrick McGoohan, and featuring musical numbers from Siouxsie and the Banshees, Magnum and XTC. Holland performed a number towards the end of the programme.

Holland was an interviewer for The Beatles Anthology TV project, and appeared in the 1997 film Spiceworld as a musical director.

In 2008, Holland commissioned TV series Bangla Bangers (Chop Shop) to create a replica of the Rover JET1 for personal use. Holland is a greyhound racing supporter and has previously owned dogs. (by wikipedia)

And here´his first “Friends” album including a lot of great artists (see tracklist) … and you will her this great mixture between Big Bnd Jazz and Rhythm & Blues…

It´s hot, baby !!!

Personnel:
Mark Flanagan (guitar)
Roger Goslyn (trombone, accordion)
Lisa Graham (saxophone)
Christopher Holland (organ)
Jools Holland (piano)
Gilson Lavis (drums, percussion)
Nick Lunt (saxophone)
Jason McDermid (trumpet)
Derek Nash (saxophone)
Rico Rodriguez (trombone)
Winston Rollins (trombone)
Michael Bammi Rose (saxophone)
Jon Scott (trumpet)
Chris Storr (trumpet)
Dave Swift (bass)
Phil Veacock (saxophone)
Fayyaz Virji (trombone)
+
background vocals:
Sam Brown – Ruby Turner
+
a lot of guests (see tracklist)

Tracklist:
01. Horse To The Water (feat. George Harrison) (G.Harrison/D.Harrison) 4.57
02. Marie (feat. Herbert Grönemeyer) (Newman) 3.14
03. The Informer (feat. Ruby Turner) (Holland) 3.33
04. Wohin die Liebe fällt (Wheel Of Fortune) (feat. Valerie) (Holland/Bronner) 4.01
05. Seventh Son (feat. Sting) (Dixon) 3.04
06. Out Of This World (feat. Melanie C) (Holland/Brown/Hynde) 3.38
07. I Love Every Little Thing About You (feat. Roger Cicero) (Wonder) 5.17
08. Übers Meer (feat. Ina Müller) (Reiser) 4.17
09. Mabel (feat. Eric Clapton & Solomon Burke) (Burke/Clapton/Holland) 4.52
10. I Put A Spell On You (feat. David Gilmour & Mica Paris) (Hawkins) 4.08
11. Think (feat. Tom Jones) (Malone/Cracklin) 4.00
12. I Went By (feat. Louise Marshall) (Ash Howes Radio Mix) (Holland) 2.59
13. Ba-Ba Boo-Boo (Into Your Heart) (feat. The Baseballs) (Brans) 4.14
14. The Kiss Of Love (feat. Nick Cave & Sam Brown) (Holland/Brown) 4.23
15. Let The Boogie Woogie Roll (feat. Robert Plant) (Ertegun/Wexler) 2.37
16. Just To Be Home With You (feat. Herbert Grönemeyer) 2.29
17. Tuxedo Junction (Dash/Feyne/Hawkins/Johnson) 3.35
18. Miniatur Wunderland (feat. Axel & Torsten Zwingenberger) (Holland/ A.Zwingenberger)) 2.40
19. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (feat. Marc Almond) (Almond/Ball) 4.33
20. If You Wear That Velvet Dress (feat. Bono) (Clayton/Evans/Mullen/Hewson) 6.15

*
**