Godfather of piano Jools Holland on return to Glasgow for some boogie woogie

"I am getting very excited" Jools tells The Evening Times.

The godfather of piano, Jools, is speaking to me ahead of his December shows with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra where he will be joined by Ruby Turner, Pauline Black and Glasgow's own Eddi Reader.

"I always have a very nice time in Glasgow, and I'm particularly excited to have Eddi Reader with us on this tour.

"Eddi's voice, to me, sounds like beautiful honey, and has a tone you can't put your finger on.

"She sings anything and it turns into gold and there is something really powerful about her voice with a big band."

Whilst he is in town, Jools plans to revisit the other sites of Glasgow that he says has its own unique voice.

"I walk around a lot in Glasgow, and go to Kelvingrove Museum and other places. We always have a nice Italian lunch.

"The thing that makes a place is the people, and the people in Glasgow have such a funny and uniquely sharp sense of humour and I love just walking around to be there and feel that.

"In Glasgow, people just love to have a party and that's what matters when you're there."

Between the shows with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, his Hootenanny celebrations and his unstoppable left piano hand, Jools has created his own cultural calendar which over the years his embedded into societies fabric.

With all professionalism, it is hard not to divulge to Jools that this annual show with the big band was the first live show that I ever attended, not once, but twice -the first, whilst in my mother's stomach where I kicked to the beat and she had to leave and the second, at 5, with my legs dangling above the seats in the SEC. It started a lifetime of love for music, which I'm sure is not a unique story amongst Jools's fanbase.

"That is so sweet" is his reply. "There is a South African jazz pianist called Abdulla Ibrahim I was recording with the other day and I asked him, 'What was the first music that you heard that inspired you?'

"He said, 'Well, it would be when I was in my mother's womb, the silence in between her heart beat'. I thought 'blimey, that's a thought'.

"That's just like you" he laughs. "The first music that you hear has a big influence on you for the rest of your life".

And indeed, Jools's massive musical career has not so much influenced the sound of rhythm and blues today, but pioneered it. I ask him how it feels to know that the Hootenanny has become a staple of the New Year's Celebrations around the world.

"I think, over the years, it has become habitual to have it on. People go to clubs and pubs less because of the drink and drive laws, which is a good thing, and it's expensive to go out.

"But I hope there are families who watch it, and people who watch it on their own or with friends because wherever they are, they are all joined up celebrating together with us.

"The Hootennany is a giant version of a party in my Nan's front room, when my Uncle Stan would sing a song. Artists come on and do things that they wouldn't normally do, just like my Uncle Stan who would only sing one song, once a year".

Jools's music, and the music that he creates with others, is a warm and recognisable thing to so many people. I wonder if there ever comes a point he gets bored of the same boogie?

"i have been engaging with music for so long in many different ways that i forget, being in the middle of it al, just how fortunate I am to do that.

"Whether I am playing the piano on stage or in my dressing room, it's all the same thing - you are plugging into the music and the more that you do it, the more that you discover."

I am interested to know if in a year that has been as politically tumultuous as 2019, he feels that there is more of a need for the stable, familiar and well-loved celebrations that he has come to be known for.

"There is a lot of gloomy stuff around, and I think it should give you more of a reason to celebrate. You have to think positively and visualise the positive things in the future, and simply just not give up on that hope."

I doubt that giving up has ever been on Jools's agenda - rather, I wonder if his life in music has aimed to include as many people as possible - it is a big band, after all.

"My hope is that someone somewhere who hasn't seen us does, and wants to know more because then that is the beginning of a journey.

"I find my music in so many different ways, and on everything I do I am usually just the glue keeping it together."

I shouldn't be surprised that Jools is humble about the gravitas on his musical influence, but I do wonder what his advice would be to someone who wanted to follow in his footsteps by starting at the very beginning.

"The first thing is that you have just got to love it" he tells me. "You have to love what you play, love the people you are playing to, mean what you play and play what you mean.

"If you love music you are not concerned with what is fashionable and unfashionable. There is so much out there. You just have to be tenacious, and keep looking. There is a whole world out there."

There is a whole world indeed, and as so many of us know, the world is a stage - which brings me back to Jools's show with the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra in December.

From what I remember when I last saw the show, it is reminiscent of a solar system: a planet of sound which orbits the Jools Holland sun. We laugh as I ask him if he gets annoyed when bands wear sunglasses on his stage.

"It's not my job to judge, just to bring people together and let them be, Of course, if they have their glasses on, It's because they are basking in the light of my glory" he jokes. And he would hate me writing it, but he is not wrong.