GETTING some of the best jazz musicians in the country to play a garden gig in Wivenhoe is no problem when an internationally renowned guitarist lives just round the corner.

That's Chris Allard who has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Jacqui Dankworth, Dame Cleo Laine and Jamie Cullum, who described Chris as “one of the great guitarists in this country”.

Since going professional, Chris has performed at major festivals and prestigious venues around the world, including at the Barbican Centre, Montreux Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scott’s jazz club and the Royal Festival Hall.

But it all started in Wivenhoe, where he grew up, first learning to play the piano before discovering the guitar at the age of 13.

"There was always one on the wall," he smiles, "and although I started playing classical piano what I really wanted was guitar lessons.

"I was listening to Hendrix and Led Zeppelin at the time and quite quickly I was playing in local bands like Agent Orange, mainly blues stuff, which was great because they were in their 30s and I was still in my teens, so they really looked after me."

At the age of 18 Chris went to the Guitar Institute in London after which he went to live in Africa for a year.

"But the guitar came with me," he smiles. "It still does today, everywhere. I pay the extra £100 for the plane, even when I haven't got a concert because if I don't play for a couple of days I really do start to get rusty."

Since graduating from the Guildhall School of Music in London in 2004, Chris has been in demand playing gigs and doing recording work all over the country and further afield.

"Towards the end of my time at Guildhall," he adds, "I got a place with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, which was quite a big deal because the music they were performing was so tough. Most of the rhythm section players were quite old because there was no one young of a high enough standard to play those pieces."

Soon after leaving, Chris began playing with jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth, and more than ten years later he is still the singer's guitarist of choice.

And that's why later this month both Chris and Jacqui, along with pianist Charlie Wood, will be performing a special charity concert in the garden of some of Chris' friends.

"I love Wivenhoe," he grins. "It's where I grew up and when I moved back I wanted to bring all the great musicians I've met to come and play here.

"Jacqui, Charlie and I did a concert in St Mary's Church three years ago and it was so great I've been meaning to do another ever since. So when my friends asked whether I would do a charity concert in their garden I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to get us all back together."

By his own admission it's these kind of concerts Chris likes best.

"I've done massive big stadium and theatre tours," he says, "with people like Russell Watson and Il Divo, and while they are great fun, for me playing a tiny venue where all that matters is the music, and the audience engaging with that, well there's nothing quite like it."

As well as putting Wivenhoe on the jazz concert map, Chris is continuing the legacy left by his father Joe, who in his spare time away from lecturing English and American Literature at Essex University, was a huge supporter of the local arts scene.

Since his death back in 2011, the Colchester Arts Centre has commissioned a new piece of work every year in memory of him and to mark his contribution to the arts.

Chris says: “I have lots of memories of being at the arts centre as a small child with my father playing the piano there in the afternoons.

“He was really passionate about the arts centre for as long as I can remember, and so the commission was incredibly touching and a lovely idea.

"I was fortunate to do the first one and funnily enough two of the pieces that came out of that commission have found their way on my new album, Invisible.

"This album is very different to my previous ones because it's more about the guitar rather than the whole band with lots of layered parts for the instrument. It's being launched on July 14 at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, London, which I'm really fortunate to get because it's easily one of the best clubs in Europe."

The album will mark a lovely tribute to his late father who you can tell was a great influence on Chris' musical career as have many of his other family.

"Music runs in both sides of my family," Chris tells me, "mainly all amateur but there are a few professional like my uncle Joe Allard. If you mention his name to a saxophone player, they are very impressed. He was very famous in New York and taught all of the great saxophone players.

"Just the other day I was playing with the BBC Big Band and we were all chatting after the gig when someone mentioned he was my uncle and all the saxophone players in the room were like 'no way, the Joe Allard, that's your uncle'. You get a lot of kudos."

With Dudley Phillips on bass, Nick Smalley on drums, and raising money for War Child, Jacqui Dankworth, Chris Allard and Charlie Wood play Wraby House Garden, Park Road, Wivenhoe, on July 30, at 7pm.

Tickets are £20, available from Wivenhoe Bookshop in the High Street, or by calling 01206 822982.

Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood

Daughter of jazz legends, Dame Cleo Laine and the late Sir John Dankworth, Jacqui has carved out a good for reputation herself, both with her own band and touring with other prestigious musicians, such as the Brodsky Quartet. From Ronnie Scott’s and the Royal Festival Hall in London to the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, she has been wowing packed houses at major international festivals and other venues worldwide.

The concert also features Memphis-born pianist Charlie Wood, who burst onto the international scene in 1990 as keyboardist for legendary blues guitarist Albert King. Since then, he has performed with a host of stars across the music spectrum, including BB King, Georgie Fame, Paloma Faith and Robert Plant.