Jools Holland savours return to Castle Howard with his big band for the first time in a decade

"It was a few years ago I last played there, when Richard Hawley did it with me," recalls Jools, who will be bringing his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra to North Yorkshire, along with special guest Marc Almond and fellow vocalists Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall and Holland's daughter Mabel Ray.

"I love that part of the world; it's one of my very favourite parts. I have friends up there and I love exploring it, as it has its own unique atmosphere. I went to the Marmion Tower [a 15th-century gatehouse, near the village of West Tanfield] when I last played in Harrogate, and as I stood by this ruined medieval tower in the rain, I was thinking, this is as good as anywhere to be right now."

Jools regularly plays both the York Barbican and Harrogate International Centre on his winter tours and has performed at Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, as well as Castle Howard on his summer travels.

He enjoys the indoor and outdoor experience equally. "Someone once told me...well, Eric Clapton once told me, you just have to play to the room; sometimes it's a small room; sometimes, a big room; sometimes, a great big open space," he says.

"You'll be halfway there if it's a beautiful space rather than an aircraft hangar, but it wouldn't work without the people who are there. We're all very committed, so are our audience, and our music is so joyful that it lifts everything up. On top of that, Castle Howard is so spectacular that it already has a great vibe and on a sunny night it can make you quite giddy."

Jools describes his concerts as "tie-loosening" musical occasions, buoyed by the element of surprise in his set lists. "We're constantly doing new numbers and that's important," says the 57-year-old bandleader and television presenter from Blackheath. "If we just played the same things, it would be just like a machine, so we freshen it with new pieces or new pieces to us.

"We're doing an Edith Piaf number, Hymn To Love (L'hymne à l'amour), that Marc Almond wanted to do, and we'll be doing some new things with Ruby Turner, like a Sister Rosetta Tharpe song she suggested, and two BB King pieces too, Confessin' The Blues and Early In The Morning, to mark his death.

Put Jools on the spot as to what makes his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra stand out, and he says: "We're a big band but we're unique because when people ask how many people are in the band, I don't know! It's about 22! You have all the singers, all the soloists in the band, Gilson Lavis on drums, so it's a bit like a rock'n'roll rhythm section with horns bolted on top, like the Duke Ellington orchestra."

One absentee from the line-up will be the veteran ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodrigues, now 80 years old. "Unfortunately Rico isn't well enough to play with us," says Jools. "Though we do have Michael Bami Rose playing saxophone; he came over with Rico from Jamaica, and he's been with us for 15 years now.

"We love that music and I like the way we use it in our band. It's a bit like how we heard the blues in the Fifties in Britain and did our version of it; in the late-Seventies and into the Eighties, we had Madness and Specials and me doing our version of ska, which is such an uplifting sound."

Jools Hooland in concert in York in 2013. Picture: David Harrison

When it comes to choosing the set list, Jools is spoilt for choice. "It's a never-ending list, and what's wonderful is that I've written things with a view to thinking 'this will sound great with the band', or I've listened to old records thinking 'this will sound great with the band', so we have hundreds of arrangements of blues and big band things that sound fabulous," he says.

"I really do have the best job in the world, partly because of the people I'm playing with, but also because the band has a life of its own, where I can look out from the piano and see how much they're enjoying themselves and how fantastically they're playing. It's like a train of excitement!"

Show after show too, he loves the emotional impact of Ruby Turner singing a gospel song. "It takes you to another place," says Jools. "You want people to escape from where they are and for a singer to take you somewhere else when you're lost in the world - and it's all done in the spirit of joy."

Over the years, Jools' orchestra has grown and grown in size and popularity, such is the joie de vivre they evoke. "I think it's basically because the orchestra is an extension of my personality, but it's also something that has evolved. It's like the chicken and the egg. It's expensive to tour a big band and you can't do it unless you play big places, but we just started with me and Gilson and then we added more and more," he says.

"It's also the spectacle of a big band. Big bands went out of favour, maybe because of the cost, maybe the arrival of rock'n'roll, but in some way we're like a rock'n'roll group mixed with a big band."

Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra play Castle Howard Summer Sounds, Castle Howard, near York, August 21. Gates open at 5pm for 7.30pm start. Box office: 0844 871 8819, castlehowardconcerts.com or seetickets.com.

The Castle Howard Proms Spectacular follows on August 22. Both Summer Sounds concerts feature fireworks finales.