Jools Holland - you've gotta check him out!

During the last few weeks, I have learned that people whose musical skills I normally respect, and even admire, such as @John Hjalmarsson, @Elfar Sigmundsson, @Adam Segergren, @Mats Guldbrand, @Bo-Lennart Hjalmarsson and others, does not know of one of the all time greats of blues/soul/pop/rock.

I have no idea why that is, but since the last 30 years this dude seriously have been making some of the best music *ever*. He's an enormously gifted piano player, an amazing song writer, but more than anything, he's probably the best arranger/producer we've seen the last 30 years.

People that have known me for some time, knows that I'm kinda fixated on producers, giving them maybe more credit than they deserve sometime (compared to songwriters, lead band members, and so on); but we're talking about producers such as Trevor Horn, Nile Rodgers Tony Mansfield and of course the amazing Jim Steinman, so there's really no doubt they reserve it.

So what is it about Jools Holland the songwriter, arranger and performer that I feel the need to blow his horn in the blog like this? Well, more than anything, it's the breadth of his work. He's got the New Orleans piano playing of Dr. John (another *major* household favorite), at the same time as feel for the traditional Missisippi blues. He's certainly not even a decent singer, but he still makes amazing singing arrangements. He's an excellent small-scale (piano) performer, and the best big band leader the word has seen the last 50 years(?).

I still remember seeing him and his band at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in '08(?) and saying that they could do the entire blues fest in Åmål the week after by themselves, and I still stand by it, but I could also add so much more to that, like a complete jazz festival and Swedish "dansband" weekend the same week! Yeah, he is just *that* diverse, and just *that* good.

As you may know, I consider myself (right or wrong) as somewhat of a connoisseur (although not great at spelling :-)) at music, and I must say, that if I had to choose a single performer to bring with me to a deserted island, it would, without a doubt, be mr Holland.

If you want to catch a glimpse of him, start with Spotify. Listen to his songs from the top, and read about his records (including co-operations with amazingly important peeps from the last three decades) there, and start to branch out from there. If you have not heard about him before, you have some amazing time in front of you...

- Peter