Swing Fever (album)

Swing Fever is a collaborative album by British singer Rod Stewart and English composer Jools Holland, released on 23 February 2024. It features Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, and contains covers of songs from the big band era.

Swing Fever
Studio album by Rod Stewart with Jools Holland
Released	23 February 2024 (2024-02-23)
Studio	Helicon Mountain Durrington House Red Cottage
Genre	Swing
Length	38:17
Label	Warner
Producer	Phil Manzanera Nitin Sawhney
Rod Stewart chronology
The Tears of Hercules (2021) Swing Fever (2024)
Jools Holland chronology
Pianola. Piano & Friends (2021) Swing Fever (2024)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Hot Press	7.5/10
i
The Telegraph

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described it as "a record steeped in jump blues, boogie woogie, and other manners of swinging R&B. In form, it's not far removed from Stewart's Great American Songbook albums, generally relying on songs written prior to the onset of rock & roll". Neil McCormick of The Telegraph found that "together Stewart and Holland tackle these classic tunes as if they are trying to set fire to the ballroom and burn the old folk's home to the ground" as "while there's nothing radical or new here, joy always sounds fresh, and Stewart sounds like he's having the time of his life".

Jackie Hayden of Hot Press stated that "Stewart's age-worn and smoky voice can still deliver, as these 13 covers of classic big band numbers prove", writing that Holland "is no slouch either" with his contributions to "Sentimental Journey", "Them There Eyes" and "Frankie and Johnny". Ed Power of i felt that "to take the attention away from Rod Stewart without once opening your mouth is quite an achievement. That's what Holland does throughout a vigorous yet subtly deficient collection."

Commercial performance

On the UK Albums Chart dated 1 March 2024, the album debuted at number one, which made it Holland's first number-one album and Stewart's 11th.

Track listing

Swing Fever track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Arranger(s)	Length
1.	"Lullaby of Broadway"	Harry Warren Al Dubin	Derek Nash	5:02
2.	"Oh Marie"	Eduardo di Capua Vincenzo Russo Louis Prima Alfredo Mazzuchi	Nash	2:33
3.	"Sentimental Journey"	Les Brown Bud Green Ben Homer	Fayyaz Virji	2:54
4.	"Pennies from Heaven"	Johnny Burke Arthur Johnston	Nash	2:58
5.	"Night Train"	Oscar Washington James R. Forrest Lewis C. Simpkins	Jonathan Scott	2:56
6.	"Love Is the Sweetest Thing"	Ray Noble Charles Wilmott	Jools Holland Phil Veacock	2:55
7.	"Them There Eyes"	Maceo Pinkard Doris Tauber William G. Tracey	Nash	2:24
8.	"Good Rockin' Tonight"	Roy Brown	Scott	2:50
9.	"Ain't Misbehavin'"	Andy Razaf Harry Brooks Thomas Fats Waller	Holland Veacock	2:26
10.	"Frankie and Johnny"	Traditional	Rod Stewart Veacock	3:02
11.	"Walkin' My Baby Back Home"	Roy Turk Fred E. Ahlert	Veacock	2:18
12.	"Almost Like Being in Love"	Alan Jay Lerner Frederick Loewe	Nash	2:39
13.	"Tennessee Waltz"	Pee Wee King Redd Stewart	Nash	3:20
Total length:				38:17

Personnel

Musicians

• Rod Stewart – vocals
• Jools Holland – piano
• Nick Lunt – baritone saxophone
• Dave Swift – bass
• Gilson Lavis – drums
• Mark Flanagan – guitar
• Christopher Holland – organ
• Michael Rose – saxophone
• Phil Veacock – saxophone
• Courtney Brown – trombone
• Roger Goslyn – trombone
• Winston Rollins – trombone
• Jason McDermid – trumpet
• Jonathan Scott – trumpet
• Amanda Miller – backing vocals (tracks 1, 4, 7, 11, 12), dancer (1)
• Gemma Mewse – backing vocals (tracks 1, 3–9, 11, 12)
• Holly Brewer – backing vocals (tracks 1, 3–9, 11, 12)
• Oli Savill – percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7–9)
• Anna Brooks – saxophone (tracks 1, 3–7, 9–13)
• Derek Nash – saxophone (tracks 1, 3–5, 7–11, 13)
• Alistair White – trombone (tracks 1, 5, 7, 9)
• Chris Storr – trumpet (tracks 1–3, 5–9, 12)
• Enrico Tomasso – trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7–11, 13)
• Courtney Jackson – tap dancing (track 1)
• Genevieve Bennett – tap dancing (track 1)
• Liam Tistell – tap dancing (track 1)
• Lucy Mancinetti – tap dancing (track 1)
• Lucy Parsons – tap dancing (track 1)
• Michael Burr – tap dancing (track 1)
• Molly Goodman – tap dancing (track 1)
• Toria Ford – tap dancing (track 1)
• Fayyaz Virji – trombone (tracks 2–4, 6, 8, 10–13)
• Lisa Grahame – saxophone (tracks 2, 8)
• John H. Jnr – backing vocals (track 2)
• Ollie Furness – backing vocals (track 2)
• Richard Taylor – backing vocals (track 2)
• Joanne Harper – backing vocals (tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 9)
• Gary Potter – guitar (tracks 3, 6, 12)
• Lya Reis Guerrero – percussion (tracks 3, 6, 12)
• Peter Long – saxophone (tracks 3, 6, 12)
• Danny Marsden – trumpet (tracks 3, 6, 12)
• Karl Vanden Bossche – percussion (tracks 4, 10, 11, 13)
• Nathan Bray – trumpet (tracks 4, 10, 11, 13)
• Matt O'Connor – congas, tambourine (track 13)

Technical

• Phil Manzanera – production (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12)
• Nitin Sawhney – production (tracks 4, 10, 11, 13)
• Alex Wharton – mastering
• Kevin Savigar – mixing, vocal production
• Michael Boddy – mixing (tracks 1–10, 12, 13)
• Harry Timson – engineering (tracks 4, 10, 11, 13), orchestra mixing (11)
• George Latham – engineering assistance
• Patrick Logue – engineering assistance
• James Stewart – engineering assistance

Visuals

• Penny Lancaster – photography production and direction
• Jonas Mohr – photography
• Salvador Design – artwork

Charts

Chart performance for Swing Fever

Chart (2024)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	19
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	4
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	26
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	139
Croatian International Albums (HDU)	30
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	4
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)	20
Irish Albums (OCC)	45
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	48
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	73
Portuguese Albums (AFP)	63
Scottish Albums (OCC)	2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	63
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	5
UK Albums (OCC)	1