Rock icon Rod Stewart and piano maestro Jools Holland have scored a collaborative Number 1 on the Official Charts with their salute to the big band era Swing Fever.
A couple of real jazzmen.
For Holland, this is his first Number 1 album despite a nearly fifty-year career in the entertainment business. Stewart now has his 11th Number 1 as a solo artist, putting him in company with David Bowie, U2 and Taylor Swift. Swing Fever also tops the Official Vinyl Album Charts.
The 13-track listing, which includes Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, is a salute and loving homage to a period that Stewart said closely aligns with the beginnings of rock and roll. Speaking to CBS News Sunday Morning, he noted that "50s rock and roll and swing are very close. They merge into each other."
Surprisingly, the two had not worked together before until this album. Stewart had started a similar-themed project, but felt it was more "Frank Sinatra than it was Louis Prima." Despite their shared rock and roll heritage of blues and soul, it was only when the pandemic kept them grounded, did they find their first love - building and collecting model trains - as a starting point for conversations, which then led to them coming together to record over a dozen collective sessions.
Rod Stewart with Jools Holland - Pennies from Heaven (Official Video)
Never miss a story — sign up for the Q newsletter for the latest music news on all your favorite artists, all in one place.
From the press release, Stewart had this to say, "I've got to give credit to Jools' orchestra, and especially the drums [Gilson Lavis] and bass [Dave Swift]. Gilson is the nearest thing I've heard to Charlie Watts, in being able to do a backbeat properly. Great band, and this man Jools with the old piano. Steaming! And his brother Chris on the Hammond. The orchestra rehearsed them a couple of times when I wasn't there, then they went in and did three a day, which is quite remarkable. Jools' studio is so small. It's ok if it's a three-piece band, but we had 18 pieces in there at one time. It just unites everybody."
He's 'Ace' with me.
The 79-year-old Stewart has amassed a total of 120 million record sales worldwide. As well as his 11 Number 1 Albums, he's scored no fewer than 31 Top Ten singles in the UK. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 1994 and as a member of The Faces in 2012. Q voted him Number 33 on its list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time in 2004.
Holland was an original member of Squeeze and co-presented the music programme The Tube from 1982-1987. Since 1992, the 66-year-old musician has hosted Later... With Jools Holland on BBC 2.
Powered by RedCircle
