The US actor and musician joins his band the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to embark on their first ever UK tour
Best known for his roles in 90s blockbusters Jurrassic Park and Independence Day, Jeff Goldblum is now taking up a role behind the piano keys and hitting the road with his jazz band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. The six-piece ensemble, led by the American actor and musician, will tour the UK for the first time to coincide with the release of their new album, Still Blooming: Night Blooms, which promises classic and contemporary jazz arrangements, plus hits from the American Songbook.
Goldblum grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Russian and Austro-Hungarian Jewish parents, Harold and Shirley. He attended an Orthodox synagogue and celebrated both Chanukah and Christmas. Harold and Shirley were great lovers of music and encouraged the young star and his three siblings to play piano from an early age. Goldblum fell in love with jazz and musicals, including Jewish artists such as Danny Kaye and Mickey Katz, both of whom's records he cherishes, as he told InStyle in 2024. "I get very choked up when I hear this song," he says of 'Mommy, Give Me a Drink of Water' by Kaye. Of Katz he says: "He did these songs that were popular and then made novel by changing them here and there into Yiddish. I got a big kick out of those."
Come the 1990s, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra was born and named after a friend of Goldblum's mother. "I thought that was a funny name," he told Rolling Stone in 2018, "and then this idea of the orchestra was funny…it's kind of stuck since then." Catch them playing their first UK shows at Wolverhampton Civic Hall (28 May), Glasgow Theatre Royal (1 June), Manchester Palace Theatre (3 June) and London Royal Albert Hall (30 June). Still Blooming: Night Blooms, the band's fourth album, is available from Friday 5 June and features guests on vocals, including award-winning actor Scarlett Johansson and pop megastar Ariana Grande.
By Danielle Goldstein
Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra tour the UK Thursday 28 May – Tuesday 30 June. aegpresents.co.uk/event/jeff-goldblum