A LEGENDARY New Orleans jazz musician will be swinging by Aggborough Jazz during his UK tour.

Band leader and drummer, Barry Martyn, will perform with his band, The Young Bloods, at the jazz club, based at Kidderminster Harriers Football Club in Hoo Road, on Monday.

Martyn began working as a musician in 1953 at the age of 14 and a year later became a band-leader.

In 1960, he travelled to New Orleans for the first time and took drum lessons from Josiah Frazier.

Three years later, he made his first recording, featuring himself on drums with New Orleans jazz musicians, and later became the first white musician to join a black musicians' union in America.

He made history when he returned to England, as he became the first person to bring New Orleans artists on solo tours to Europe.

Martyn was also in the spotlight when he returned to America as the European entry at the first Heritage Jazz Festival in the Municipal Auditorium.

The musician also played to more than 7,000 fans at a birthday tribute to Louis Armstrong in Los Angeles.

Martyn dedicated 10 years to Legends of Jazz, his all-American veteran New Orleans jazz band, and toured the world with the show 1,000 Years of Jazz, which saw him play in front of President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in Washington DC.

He has recorded more than 220 sessions featuring the Barry Martyn Band by itself or with visiting artists, including Jim Robinson, George Lewis and Zutty Singleton.

The Young Bloods include Allen Beechey, Julian Webster Greaves, Ben Martyn, Tom Kincaid and Graham Hughes.

Aggborough Jazz, promoter, Alan Biggs, said he expected a large audience, adding: "He is very popular. This will be his third time here. He has lived in New Orleans for 30 or 40 years - his house was partially destroyed by the floods during Hurricane Katrina. He comes over and does a short tour every year and gets young musicians to form a band."

He added he hoped the show would be as popular as the concert given by the Old Fashioned Love Band last month, which attracted around 100 jazz fans - a record audience for the Kidderminster club.

Future performers will be the Heart of England Jazz Band on Tuesday, March 14 and John Everett's Red Dragons on Tuesday, March 28.

Doors open at 7pm and the concert will start at 8.30pm. For further information, contact Mr Biggs on 07790 012767.