IF two jazz-loving couples from Pershore have their way, the town could have an annual jazz festival to call its own from next year.

Dutch Lewis, his wife Jayne and Dick and Jackie Chapman, of the Antique Six Jazz Band, believe the success of their recent three-night presentation on the history of jazz at Number Eight shows there is plenty of support.

Dutch said: "The fact that we had enough people and enough interest in what we were doing to fill up the place for three nights demonstrates that jazz has got an appeal."

Dick and Jackie's Antique Six Band's traditional Dixieland approach coupled with Dutch and Jayne's group's more modern styles enabled them to play a wide spectrum of jazz from the turn of the century to the present day.

Dick strongly believes that jazz gets a raw deal from the press, all too often being overlooked in favour of classical, folk or pop music.

"The problem is that most people are frightened away from it by things like television's portrayal of jazz musicians in things like the Fast Show," he said.

It is a state of affairs all four are determined to put right and Jayne said the Number Eight shows, which were part of the town's millennium festival and came about after she spoke to the town council and tourism association, were a welcome boost for local jazz music.

"Next year it's planned to make it into a festival in its own right," she said.

She is now investigating ways of linking a festival to other events in the town, such as the annual flower and craft show in August, when there would already be marquees, sound equipment and extra people in the town.

Jackie added: "There are all sorts of festivals all over the country, there's no reason why Pershore should not have something which could be regular and enjoyable for the people of the area."

Life-long jazz fans Dick and Dutch first met up during the 1960s in a Black Country jazz pub where professional and amateur musicians gathered to drink, compare notes and scratch a living.

At the time Dutch had returned from Europe where he had played with a showband entertaining NATO forces and was considering his future, while Dick was out to earn some much needed cash to get through college.

Both remember the era fondly, but in the 1970s it came to an end and they went their separate ways, losing touch for more than two decades.

Dutch continued as a professional musician, playing with many top names as well as working on film and television scores before returning to live performance and teaching with his wife Jayne in Pershore in the 1990s.

Dick and Jackie pursued careers in education around the country, but returned to Pershore earlier this year and met up with Dutch and Jayne completely by accident thanks to a mutual friend.

Dick said there was a great camaraderie in the jazz world and added that they were soon playing together as if they had never been apart.

The foursome's enthusiasm for their music is matched only by their encyclopaedic knowledge of its greatest exponents and various styles and they are sure it is a sufficiently diverse genre to have something that will appeal to most people.