Rod Stewart & Jools Holland reveal main thing they have in common as they release album – and it’s not to do with music
IN a fifth-floor room at the rear of Warner Music’s London HQ, two familiar figures are standing by a window, peering down at the urban landscape below.
They are focusing on a small overground section of the District Line just before it disappears from view at High Street Kensington Station.
“I bet we’re the only two people in the music business stood . . . ” begins one.
“ . . . studying the trackwork,” says the other, finishing the sentence before both break into laughter.
The first of these like-minded souls to speak is Sir Rod Stewart, singing legend, national treasure AND model railway enthusiast.
The second is Jools Holland, piano maestro, big band leader, host of Later . . . since 1992 AND model railway enthusiast.
“Half of my layout is post-war Britain,” reports Jools as they greet me.
“We were enjoying the view out of the window because the Underground is down there — we could do a bit of research.”
Both musicians have enjoyed long and illustrious careers, both have a huge passion for Swing music — the forerunner of rock ’n’ roll and all the rage in the 1930s and ’40s — and both, as you have gathered, have the same hobby.
But it’s taken until now for Rod, 79, and Jools, 66, to join forces and make an album together.
This week sees the release of Swing Fever, an effervescent collection of jazz standards such as Oh Marie, Sentimental Journey, Pennies From Heaven, and Ain’t Misbehavin’.
It serves as an affectionate tribute to the big band era but expressed in the pair’s inimitable, unvarnished style — Rod’s intuitive, ever-expressive rasp backed by the dexterous Jools and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
“We’re made for each other — and that’s not even counting our love of model trains!” exclaims Rod.
When I tell them they’ve created a joyful, upbeat sound, Jools nods in agreement as his new buddy affirms: “We need some joy nowadays.”
We’re meeting at their record label to discuss their album but, of course, I’m all aboard to hear about the hobby that has cemented their bromance.
Today, the ever-dapper Rod is wearing a cream jacket and matching shirt with a big scarf, his trademark array of blond spikes present and correct, while Jools has chosen darker, more understated attire.
It’s obvious they get on like a house on fire and have formed a mutual appreciation society, each riffing off the other’s enthusiasm for their shared passions.
But it’s strange to think that Rod and Jools have seldom crossed paths in the past, although the latter recalls a fleeting moment.
“I did meet Rod briefly at some reception and I said, ‘I’ve got a layout’.
“He looked at me rather suspiciously, asked a few probing questions before realising I was legitimate.
“Then he said, ‘I’ve got a bit of advice for you. Get yourself a big room to put it in. The bigger the room, the more pleasure and happiness it will give you’.
“And do you know what?” adds Jools as he considers the 100ft attic space he now uses for his European-themed layout, “It was the best advice I’ve ever, ever been given.”
If half his model train tracks run through post-war British scenes, the rest visit Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.
“I’ve got the Berlin Wall and a Stasi building,” he affirms.
As for Rod, in-demand superstar, father of eight children, loving husband to Penny Lancaster, a few hours spent crafting a miniature American skyscraper or laying a new section of track to adorn his layout can be his greatest stress buster.
He says: “When I’m having the worst day ever, when things are not going as they should, I go into my workshop and the whole world can p**s off.
When I told Rod I had a train layout, he looked at me suspiciously, asked probing questions and realised I was legitimate
Jools Holland
“I walk in and I’m thinking, ‘I’m really happy to be doing this’.”
He turns to face Jools and says: “I know you feel that way too.”
I suggest that their pastime makes a refreshing alternative to the usual rock star vices, drink, drugs and womanising.
“You can’t do any of that when you’re building a model railway!” cries Rod, whose vast layout is based on Chicago and New York in the Jazz Age.
“It’s a meditation.”
He says his passion extends way beyond the confines of the big prefab building in his grounds that houses his layout.
“It’s 24 hours,” he admits. “I’ll be driving around in America and I’ll say, ‘Stop!’, especially in Chicago.
“If I see an old building I haven’t seen before, I’ll take a picture.”
The Windy City is the home of blues and jazz and its mention brings our attention back to Swing Fever.
So, why has it taken so long for this seemingly obvious music partnership to happen? I venture.
“I think it’s because we’re both shy,” jokes Rod, taking charge of a Grande Starbucks coffee and explaining all.
“I’d started making an album of swing music but it wasn’t turning out very successfully.
“It wasn’t how I wanted it to sound.”
Rod’s initial efforts were in the vein of cool and collected Ol’ Blue Eyes — “not to put Sinatra down, because he’s the greatest” — but he was searching for something altogether wilder.
Jools chips in: “I’d say you wanted that old music rooted in dance and blues which makes you swing.”
So just before Christmas a few years ago, Rod picked up the phone and called Jools.
“In the past, I wouldn’t have made that call, I’d have let someone else do it,” he says.
“But because I haven’t got a manager — and I don’t want a manager now — I like to do it all myself.”
With an intrigued Jools on the other end of the line, Rod invited him to join forces for a swing album.
“Then we started talking about trains, which really united us,” he adds.
Jools well remembers the call: “When Rod asked if I wanted to make a record, I had to think carefully — for about 0.2 of a second.
“He’s been singing songs all his life.
“Whatever he sings, he illuminates, he brings it to life.
“That’s the gift of one of the greatest singers in the world.
“The only other person who could do all the things he does would have been Ray Charles.” (The late, great blind singer/pianist remembered for I Can’t Stop Loving You and Unchain My Heart).
When the pair met up after that Christmas, first at Rod’s Essex mansion and then at Jools’s Helicon Mountain studio in South East London, they realised that their ideas around swing music aligned.
Jools says: “The way I want my band to sound happily coincided with exactly what Rod was after.
“When he said, ‘I like it a bit rough around the edges rather than too slick’, I said, ‘You’ve come to the right bloke!’
“If I suggested a ballad, he’d say, ‘No, I want it all to be up and lively, to sound like it’s live in the room, like the old records. Not too perfect’.”
It’s fair to say THAT voice is in fantastic shape on Swing Fever, which begins with the lengthy, fast-paced showtune Lullaby Of Broadway.
Rod says: “I wouldn’t say swing is easy to sing but it’s easier than singing pop hits every night and, to be honest, it’s a lot more enjoyable.
“The phrasing tests you as a vocalist.”
Hearing him though, the delivery seems effortless.
“Thank the Lord, it still comes so naturally to me,” he says.
“It’s wonderful. I’m lucky.
“I can’t imagine anybody else in my department — won’t name any names — singing these songs with such conviction.”
Crucially for this type of music, Rod is a master of singing behind the beat.
Swing isn’t easy to sing but it’s easier than singing pop hits every night and, to be honest, it’s a lot more enjoyable
Rod Stewart
“I’m always pointing this out to Penny: ‘You don’t sing on the beat. Delay it!’ but she doesn’t quite understand.
“I can delay the phrasing like Billie Holiday or any of the great singers, for as long as I want.”
In another reference to his family, he adds: “My daughter Renee (the elder of his two children with Rachel Hunter) bought me a beautiful book for my birthday (on January 10) called The Art Of Jazz.
“She wrote to me and said, ‘Dad, now you’re a jazz singer, I thought you’d appreciate this — Happy Birthday!’”
Rod has been hugely impressed with the musicians Jools has assembled for his Rhythm And Blues Orchestra, making the sessions a real pleasure.
“I was totally knocked out by them,” he enthuses.
“I have to tell you, Jools — I keep saying this — you have the best bass player (Dave Swift) and the best drummer (Gilson Lavis). They make you tap your feet.”
As it stands, despite a couple of small album launch shows, there are no plans to take Swing Fever on the road. Rod and Jools have other live commitments already planned.
“I go one year at a time and we’re busy this year,” says Rod.
As leader of an 18-piece ensemble, Jools says: “The truth is that it’s a very expensive thing to take out on tour.
“But if the record’s a great success, who knows? One thing for sure is we just love what we’re doing.”
And finally, Rod again: “In the meantime, I’m doing a show with Billy Joel.
“Co-headlining in a bloody great big football stadium in America.”
For now, it’s full steam ahead for new mates Rod or Jools with neither hitting the buffers any time soon.
- Rod with Jools perform for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room today in Vernon Kay’s show (9.30am-12noon).
- Available afterwards on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.
