Jazz fans have grown accustomed to rocking in the aisles for St Giles Church’s acclaimed winter concert series. But gig-goers don’t have to wait until the dark days at the end of the year for a blast of life-affirming jazz.

On Saturday, Ben Holder, one of the stars of Jazz at St Giles, returns for a rare summer show at the place of worship, at the confluence of Woodstock and Banbury roads in Oxford city centre.

The violin virtuoso returns with his exhilarating Gypsy Jazz show – with all proceeds going to charity.

The jazz programme at St Giles is the brainchild of parishioner Jean Darke.

Jean is a talented singer and pianist in her own right, with a background at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Royal College of Arts. She was a friend of the composer Benjamin Britten, sat on the Aldborough Festival Council and has sung on cruise ships and the London Hilton Park Lane and Intercontinental hotels.

Jean said: “Some people will go anywhere to hear Ben Holder – who plays like Stephane Grappelli – and with Gypsy Jazz we see people queuing round the block. It’s wonderful he is returning to us because so many people had to be turned away from his sold out concert in the autumn. And we don’t want disappointed customers!”

Since being launched in 2012, Jazz at St Giles has raised more than £31,500. Money goes to a range of charities including War Child, Save the Children, Combat Stress and St Giles’s own charity for the homeless.

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It also boosts St Giles’s Project 900 – the church’s 900th anniversary campaign to raise £900,000 to fund initiatives such as the purchase of a new organ, roof repairs, construction of a function room and to fund the St Giles’ Academy of Music, which trains young choristers in singing, piano and organ lessons, music theory and performance technique.

Tickets for Ben Holder and the next show, by the Titanic House Band on July 6, are on sale from jazzatstgiles.com