Just when you thought Jeff Goldblum couldn’t get any cooler, you find out he plays piano in a jazz band. The notorious actor, famous for his classic roles in Jurassic Park and Independence Day, has been playing piano as a side hobby since he was a child, training in classical before switching to jazz. Additionally, he played in cocktail lounges in his native Pittsburgh from the age of 15, and still to this day regularly performs jazz standards with his band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (who are names after a family friend), though this will be the first time he has ever recorded his work for release.

After seeing him perform on The Graham Norton Show with jazz singer, Gregory Porter, he was signed to jazz record label Decca, leading to the release of his first studio album that we see here, The Capitol Studios Sessions.

Following the success of Z-list celebrity jazz covers albums from the likes of Bradley Walsh, an album that somehow became the bestselling UK album of 2016, an album from someone with genuine star power like Goldblum seems a bit odd – but when has anything Jeff Goldblum has ever done not been so?

Goldblum doesn’t take centre stage on these tracks, he acts more as a background ringmaster to the band, conducting peculiar little interludes between tracks, including bizarre butter banter and his own rendition of the Jurassic Park theme song with guests such as Imelda May and Sarah Silverman.

Despite this, Goldblum’s personality remains the heart of the show, and the band performs each standard with lots of soul and affection, making this a much better offering than the likes of Walsh’s release. Jazz uh… finds a way.

Matthew Williams