Out on 14 May, A Hot Night in Paris, takes Collins away from love ballads and the heady sounds of Genesis and into the stirring world of big band swing.

Phil Collins on his long-term love affair with big band jazz

The album features Phil Collins on drums complete with a 20-piece big band. Many of the tracks are swing covers of his old solo numbers.

Montreux: Where it all began

The change of direction is timely. Swing dancing is currently enjoying something of a revival, especially in the United States.

In the UK new classes are springing up by the week. And with the imminent release of the British movie Swing, the excitement could reach fever pitch.

But, Collins is swift to point out, this is not a case of jumping on the band wagon, but simply a happy coincidence.

Dream come true

"It's something that I have wanted to do for a long, long time, 30 odd years, and it stems from my being exposed to big band music as a teenager. I have always wanted to be in amongst that sound," he says.

The opportunity to realise his long-nurtured dream came in 1996 when the organisers of the Montreux Jazz festival gave him an evening to do just what he wanted.

Sussudio gets the big band treatment

The big band was assembled, followed by a tour. Last year, Collins took the band out once again around the USA and Europe.

It is from a Paris night on that 1998 tour that the live album, A Hot Night in Paris is principally drawn, focusing on reworkings of classic material from the Phil Collins catalogue.

Swing is enjoying a revival

Sussudio, Invisible Touch, That's All, Hold on My Heart and I Don't Care Anymore all receive a big band treatment. Happily, says Collins, it was fairly painless.

"We fielded various tracks out to jazz big band arrangers. Most worked fantastically well. A good tune should be able to be arranged in a variety of dfferent ways," he says.

Experimentation with new sounds and ventures has long been the Phil Collins hallmark. He formed the jazz-rock group Brand X as a side project to Genesis. There was a duet with Earth, Wind and Fire's Philip Bailey, a partnership with the R & B artist Babyface, and he has also acted.

Perfect credentials

But, as a drummer first and foremost, getting into the big band sound is not, he says, the radical step it may seem.

"Playing the drums is my first love and this is where I get an opportunity to play that with the big band. I feel like I am back where I belong, and anywhere else I go I just visit, " he says.

Excitement over big band music is tangible.You only have to hear Phil Collins and fellow enthusiasts talking about it to realise that.

Cover story: The album should help keep big band jazz alive

It is also infectious, with many big band first timers reportedly leaving his gigs converted by the sound of 20 musicians and the spectacle of glittering brass.

And even if Collins arouses suspicion or hostiliy among jazz purists, he says he is not going to be put off:

"If 10,000 people come to see me, maybe 6,000 are coming for the wrong reasons, hoping that I am going to sing.

"The other 4,000 will actually go away having heard this sound, wanting to find out more and they are going to go out and buy the records that will keep this music alive."