It was the affectation of calling the jazz event in Cokethorpe School last Saturday a 'festival' that lays it open to mild ridicule. The jazz festivals at Bath and Cheltenham take over a plethora of venues, last for several days and headline a whole sackful of national and international stars. What happened a few miles outside Witney on the beautifully mown lawns of a private school was of a different order and needs to be placed in the correct context to be appreciated.

This was a small, potentially intimate, event with a single stage, a beer tent, a barbeque and an audience spread out on the grass in folding chairs, some perusing the newspaper, some enjoying a novel and others taking a more direct interest in the music. Many had brought picnics that varied from the delicate to the sumptuous. The day was blessed by exquisite weather producing an atmosphere that was quintessentially restrained and English.

The jazz that drew this audience was similarly elegant and restrained, further creating an atmosphere very far from the real festivals where tickets are pricey and expectations equally high. The Guitar Summit of Denny Ilett Jnr (pictured), Jez Cooke and Terry Hutchins kicked off the proceedings with a suitable combination of gentle swing from three guitarists who play as if they have been together for years. Denny Ilett has an impeccable sense of rhythm while Jez Cooke with a rather more edgy technique and Terry Hutchins taking more space produced a sound that was balanced and colourful. Alvin Roy, who was responsible for putting together the programme of bands, was in good form with his Reeds Unlimited with some excellent choruses on sax from Mike Wells. Trombonist Roy Williams, a veteran with a remarkably smooth sound, was suitably backed by a more skilled rhythm section including the highly professional Mark Doffman.

The artistic level was lifted further as afternoon slipped into evening, with Martin Pickett and trio backing vocalist Andrea Mann. Top of the bill was American saxophonist, Scott Hamilton, whose fluent tenor rode over a rhythm section including Mike Gorman on organ. This was an event with the potential to grow into something with a programme to attract an even wider audience.