THE Ross Gazette reports that in 1920 the jazz age had arrived from America to this part of Herefordshire with Constance's Jazz Band playing the new musical fad featuring Jazz swing and blue notes, complex chords, and vocals, at a variety of local venues.

And by 1927 the Ross Jazz Band had been formed and had been playing on the same circuit of pubs and village halls.

Over the ensuing decades numerous jazz venues became established in Ross, primarily driven by live music.

At the end of the Second World War jazz nights were regularly being held at Ross Youth Club, using records and visiting musicians.

The mainstay of the polyrhythms and improvisation over many decades was centred around the Chase Hotel which was hosting the Mount Pleasant Jazz Band and the Hilldenians Prize Jazz Band in the 1950s and it even hosted jazz themed, what is now known as open mic nights, but in this era, it was called ‘Grand jazz and character band evenings’.

The Chase Hotel also frequently held jazz spring and summer balls with the event in July 1970 featuring Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. The hotel was still holding jazz events in the 1990s as part of the Ross Festival of Art and this continued through to the Ross-on-Wye International Festival which ran until 2002.

In July 1962 the town hosted its first Jazz Festival featuring the London City Stompers, the Gin Mill Six along with local musicians Easy Riders and the Castle Jazzmen. However, the event made a loss of £30.

Later that same year Ross Jazz Club was set up in September, with musician Mack White playing for the local audience, but the club folded within ten years. Little was reported in the newspaper about the club’s subsequent demise.

But in 1976 attempts were being made for the club to be reformed and it seems to have relocated to the Pengethley Hotel in Peterstow and was successful in hosting weekly jazz nights.

Other local venues included the Top Spot Ballroom during the 1960s, which hosted major acts; it was known more as a dancing venue than a pure listening room.

Another jazz giant Humphrey Lyttelton is noted as playing at the Ross Festival of Arts in 1984 and again as part of the Ross-on-Wye International Festival in 1999.

The Ross Gazette also documents that the Hope and Anchor and the Kings Charles II pubs were hosting jazz evenings during the 1980s.

But following the millennium and the demise of Ross-on-Wye International Festival in 2002 the sound of jazz in the town had gone silent with jazz enthusiasts travelling to Monmouth and other towns.

In 2016 Maddy and Stuart Carter-Smith set up a jazz club at Upton Bishop, but this was short lived.

In 2020, and in a phoenix like fashion, the King’s Head’s Corn Exchange was rising from the ashes to take up the jazz music mantle.

The venue has a history of hosting diverse musical performances since the late 19th century. In the 1860s, the ground floor the Kings Head Hotel was the hub of local trading in the town.

Above this, regular events like cabaret, bands, poetry readings, opera, plays and even roller-skating took place. In 1922, the Corn Exchange kept up with the times and became a cinema called ‘The New Theatre’.

However, in 1939, it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt with the rear part of the Corn Exchange, becoming a garage workshop and a car showroom.

This part of the Corn Exchange became part of the King’s Head Hotel in 2015 and was initially used just for storage.

But during the covid pandemic lockdown this old building started to be reawakened with the restoration and renovation retaining much of its unique character and its story that still remain to be included in the plans to convert the space back into an events venue.

And now the Corn Exchange has been tastefully restored and repurposed as a brewery tap and events space, and current holds monthly jazz evenings among other live music events.

While the Corn Exchange hosts jazz events, set out as a concert venue, the current programme has been devised by David Logan, who only moved to the town four years ago.

Mr Logan said: “From founding and running Jazz Kenilworth for nine years until lockdown, I decided to set up Ross-on-Wye Jazz, with funding from The Arts Council, when I found out there hadn’t been any events catering for jazz in the town for many years.

“The first gig was in December of that year, featuring ‘Swing from Paris’ a jazz band playing Stephane Grappelli inspired French gypsy jazz.

“Since then, there have been some 24 jazz performances, showcasing a mix of contemporary and mainstream acts, with a specific focus on young and upcoming talent, as well as including artists from overseas, hosting Swedish saxophonist Orjan Hulten as part of his UK tour.

“The events are held at The Corn Exchange on the second Thursday of the month, excluding July, August, and December, attracting an average audience of around 70, with a committed group of regulars attending from the club’s extensive mailing list.

“Also, on two occasions we have featured musicians as part of a mentoring scheme sponsored by The Arts Council.”

At last week’s outing of the jazz club, the audience saw the Fugue & Groove Trio where the musicians performed well-known phrases from classical music composers by jazzing it up.

And by blending classical mastery with jazz flair, the trio delivered an exciting and original performance that captivated the Corn Exchange audience.

Next month the jazz club welcomes the Alex Clarke Quartet on Thursday, March 12. This up-and-coming musician has already proved herself after being classified as a ‘Rising Star’ in the British Jazz Awards in 2019 and as a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 2020.

Tickets for this concert can be obtained from rosscornexchange.co.uk/events.