Gig of the Week

Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, with guest Marc Almond, York Barbican, Friday

PIANIST Jools Holland and guest singer Marc Almond are touring together this autumn and winter with Jools’ Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, playing a sold-out York Barbican on Friday and Leeds First Direct Arena on December 14.

In between, they will release their collaborative album, A Lovely Life To Live, on November 23 through Warner Music Entertainment on CD and digital formats.

This studio partnership has been more than ten years in the making, the former Squeeze boogie-woogie pianist and Soft Cell singer Almond having toured together periodically since 2006.

The 14 tracks combine original songs by Holland and Almond with big-band interpretations of Soft Cell’s number one hit Tainted Love, Edith Piaf’s Hymne À L’amour, Irving Berlin’s How Deep Is The Ocean and a brace of Bobby “Blue” Bland songs, It’s My Life Baby and I’ll Take Care Of You.

Holland and Almond’s own collaborations included a trio of songs inspired by the pair’s adoration of London and relationship with the Big Smoke, namely I Lost My City, Workhouse Blues and London You Were My Lover.

Almond, who waved goodbye to Soft Cell with a farewell concert at London’s O2 Arena on September 30, says: “If this record were to be a movie, it’d be a black and white movie of the late Fifties or Sixties, set in London and starring Dirk Bogarde, with maybe a brief visit to Paris, where we’d meet [Catherine] Deneuve and [Alain] Delon in a smoky bar.”

To check ticket availability for the Leeds show – returning Almond to the city where Soft Cell formed – ring 0844 248 1585.