Acclaimed jazz musician and former Oxford Mail columnist Pat Crumly has died, aged 66.

Born and raised in Oxford, Mr Crumly was musically inclined from a young age and, according to his sister Janet Burgess, was destined to become a musician.

Mrs Burgess said: "He was able to sing songs all the way through when he was just three years old and was always humming away, whatever he did."

Brought up in Hendred Street, East Oxford, he won a place at Southfield Grammar School and it was here that he started to learn various musical instruments.

Starting out on the clarinet, he later moved on to the saxophone which was to become his greatest love.

After leaving school, Mr Crumly went to work at Blackwells music shop in Oxford, a job that allowed him to indulge his passion.

Mrs Burgess said: "He loved it there as he could listen to music all day and look at the sheet music."

While working here, Mr Crumly was also playing with many of the local jazz, dance and blues bands in the city and gained a lot of valuable experience playing with the musicians in Oxford University's jazz scene.

Leaving Blackwells, Mr Crumly went on to work at John Lane in Abingdon, where he became a gentlemen's outfitter. It was another job that, according to his sister, gave him the time he needed to rehearse his music.

It was around this time that Mr Crumly met and married his first wife, Jenny, and the couple went on to have two sons, Julian and Steve.

He later went on to form a progressive group called Edge with other local jazz musicians and in the three years they played together they recorded one album called Uneasy Peace.

In the early 1970s he started presenting his own weekly jazz show on BBC Radio Oxford and wrote a jazz column in the Oxford Mail, cementing his position as the city's favourite jazz man.

Deciding to make the plunge as a professional musician and tired of commuting back and forth to London to play in the big jazz venues, Mr Crumly left Oxford in late 1979 and signed with an agent in the capital. By 1984 he had toured with the likes of The Animals and jazz legends George Melly and Alan Price.

While in London, Mr Crumly also took to the stage at the capital's most famous jazz venue Ronnie Scott's alongside American drummer Duffy Jackson, pianist John Pearce and bassist Dave Green.

Mr Crumly also gave his time to various community and charity projects and successfully applied for funding from the Arts Council to carry these out.

It was while working on one of these projects that he met his second wife Hannah, who he was married to for the past 12 years.

He died on Sunday, September 28.

His sister said: "I've got family of my own, but when you lose your baby brother it's a real shock.

"He has gone before me and I can't believe it. He had so much to offer the world still."

A Buddhist ceremony will be taking place at Fulham Town Hall in Parsons Green Lane, London, at 11am on Sunday, ahead of Mr Crumly's funeral at the Mortlake Crematorium, Richmond, at 1pm. Anyone who knew Mr Crumly is welcome to attend.