JOOLS Holland brought his impressively large rhythm and blues orchestra back to York Barbican last Friday night.

More at ease than when he is dealing with the pressures of live television, Holland smiled broadly as he complimented the York audience at the start of the set.

The 18-piece band – 11 of which were in the ample brass section – seemed capable of anything: blues, R&B, jazz, gospel and samba-esque tunes all featured throughout the evening.

Holland is a generous band leader, and allowed room for nearly all his musicians to have their feature moments, with an emphasis on guests vocalists and the excellent brass section.

Ruby Turner, Beth Rowley and José Feliciano, the Puerto Rican singer and guitarist, all featured as singers, with Feliciano performing his cover of The Doors' Light My Fire. Elsewhere, there were songs by Fats Domino and the R&B classic Let The Good Times Roll.

The band were uniformly loud; there were so many of them that it was hard to avoid volume. One of the compelling moments of the evening was when three members of the brass section stood briefly at the front of the stage and played without amplification, while the band dipped in volume.

More dynamics like this would have made the evening more varied and subtle than it was, but this did not prevent the audience from dancing, of course.