Generous Jools The Seamless Savant

It would be easy to drown in a sea of superlatives having watched Jools Holland bring a packed house at Harrogate Conference Centre to its feet with a programme of rhythm and blues that would leave the Devil green with envy.

But before you pay tribute to his undoubted and excessive talent - might the word 'savant' be appropriate? - one must first pay tribute to this man's incredible generosity of spirit.

When you watch him on TV, and his live show, he is undoubtedly the star and yet, to him, it is the people around him who make the occasion extra special, and he is never at a loss to either praise them or hand over the solo spotlight for a couple of minutes.....player by player.

Jonathan Ross by contrast drives me nuts because his show is about me, myself and I. There the comparison must end for they are in leagues of their own and there's no doubting who's premiership.

Jools Holland is truly a great musician who plays with his ears and, by general acclaim, a solid left hand that anchors his equally talented Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, made up of some of the best in the business.

Last night he was back in Harrogate (I hear he likes a tipple of Daleside Bitter!) playing to yet another packed house; this time it was he of Tainted Love, Marc Almond's turn to perform a handful of numbers with the band, alongside the indomitable Ruby Turner, the soulful tones of Louise Marshall and the tireless drums of original Squeeze member Gilson Lavis.

But there was jealousy in the house!

As the show began Monsieur Holland bade a deferential welcome to audience member Dame Fanny Waterman, founder of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition whilst, near me, a classical pianist lamented: "If I practised 24 hours a day for the rest of my life I could never be as good as this man."

And, as if the Jools had heard the whispered comment, he moved his pounding rhythm and blues fingers and went into a brief interlude of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee followed by Schubert's Ave Maria,.....and then back to his own repertoire.....as if to compensate and empathise with us lesser mortals.

They say that Mozart could hear his completed operas in his head and that his only failing was his inability to write them down fast enough. For fear of sounding like some fawning sycophant, Jools Holland is a unique talent. For those who think that 'almost' unique is the same thing, it isn't. He is a one off and, when he is gone, it will be a long time before such a talent comes along.....they tend to be peppered by interludes of several decades.

Tour Details at www.joolsholland.com