STG News
Sir Rod Stewart and Jools Holland with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra present the exquisite Swing Fever today.
For the first time, Britain’s new partners in swing have united on record to share their peerless dexterity on a tribute to such truly great songs as ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’, ‘Frankie And Johnny’, ‘Sentimental Journey’ and ‘Lullaby Of Broadway’. The results, recorded at Jools’ own studio in Greenwich.
Swing Fever is the realisation of conversations between Rod and Jools that began in the pandemic years, and of Rod’s dream of making an album of the songs that were, in many ways, the rock ‘n’ roll of their day.
Sitting down together, Jools recounts: “I was just packing up to go away for Christmas, and you rang me. We hadn’t really spoken at any length before. I thought ‘I love Rod, how exciting,’ and you said ‘I want to do a record.’ I’d been a fan of Rod forever but we realised with the old music that we liked a lot of the same things.”
“I’d already started making a swing album, but it didn’t turn out how I wanted it,” explains Rod. “It was more Frank Sinatra than it was Louis Prima, let’s say. So I cancelled that, and then I realised the guy I should go to is Jools. Also, our fanatical model railway enthusiasm bonded us together. So we started recording.”
Swing Fever is out now.