Howard Alden will be appearing at Herts Jazz Club held at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City

A JAZZ great will be playing live at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City this weekend.

American guitarist Howard Alden is Herts Jazz Club’s special guest on Sunday night from 7.45pm with his quartet.

Herts Jazz’s Clark Tracey said: “This is a real coup for Herts Jazz to bring such a great star to our club.

“We are looking forward to a great night of jazz.”

Born in Newport Beach, California, in 1958, he began playing guitar when he was 10.

Howard first played with Red Norvo, recorded with Bud Freeman in 1982 and then moved to New York.

Since then he has played with virtually every important musician active in the swing and bop fields, including Ruby Braff, Benny Carter, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Woody Herman, Joe Williams, Wild Bill Davison, Monty Alexander and Dick Hyman.

He co-led a classic group with Dan Barrett in the late 80s and recorded a string of recordings for Concord, including duet guitar albums with George Van Eps.

Along the way he has recorded an outstanding tribute record to the virtuoso 1920s banjoist Harry Reser and also explored the music of Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans.

Joining Howard in the Terrace Suite will be Mark Crooks on saxes, Simon Woolf on bass and Herts Jazz’s very own Clark Tracey on drums.

Tickets cost £13 online, £16 at the door, £10 for members and just £5 for students and under-21s.

Book online at http://www.hawthornetheatre.co.uk/whatsonstage.html