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Packet of Three Squeeze Picture of the Week: www.packetofthree.com

Sunday, July 24, 2005

One Million Jools Fans Can't Be Wrong

The Cambridge Evening News noted Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra playing to 20,000 fans at the Newmarket Racecourse on Friday. The article includes a bit of history on the band:

More than a million people have paid to see the band in the past 10 years.

Jools Holland could play the piano fluently by ear at the age of eight, mastering the rudiments of Boogie Woogie and Blues piano.

By the time he reached his early teens, he was confident enough to be appearing regularly in many of the pubs and clubs in South East London and the East End Docks.

The Jools Holland Big Band, which was set up by Jools in 1987, has gradually metamorphosed into the current Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, which currently consists of a pianist, drummer, two female vocalists, guitarist, bass guitarist, organist, two tenor saxophonists, two alto saxophonists, one baritone saxophonist, three trumpeters and four trombonists.

If you want to be among the more than one million served, the Times of London notes that Jools and the R&B Orchestra plays Tuesday in Edinburgh:
Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Playhouse, Greenside Place, Tue, 8pm

No halfway respectable jazz festival would be complete without the star turn of the Jools Holland orchestra. The current ragtag line-up of former pop stars and fellow Squeeze cohorts is probably as good as it’s ever been, particularly with the guest vocalists Sam Brown and Ruby Turner on board.