WHEN jazz enthusiasts Maddy and Stuart Carter-Smith moved to their new home in Upton Bishop, they immediately wanted to share their love of music with their new neighbours and decided to launch a monthly jazz evening in the village.

"We want to bring music that you might find in London to the local area," says Maddy, a music booking agent and manager who met her husband through her job. "I met Stuart at a gig - and obviously offered to help the band out!"

That was five years ago and Maddy also represents Gypsy Fire, of which Stuart is an integral member and has worked with Bromyard-based Remi Harris, James Hickman and Dan Cassidy (Eva Cassidy's brother) as well as individual members of Bellowhead.

Together, Maddy and Stuart, who has been at the forefront of playing and promoting gypsy jazz in the UK for the last 20 years, are also the organisers of The International Gypsy Jazz festival, the largest in the UK, which they plan to bring to Herefordshire next year. "Though we don't know the exact site yet," says Maddy, who reveals that she fell into music management after studying art at Bristol University and doing a variety of jobs. "I ended up going to gigs, as you do, and started out offering musician friends a bit of help."

On Tuesday, Stuart will bring his internationally acclaimed jazz trio, Holder and Smith to the first evening, with the up-and-coming gypsy jazz band, Cafe Manouche booked for October.

Holder and Smith, comprising Stuart on guitar, Ben Holder on violin and Tom Moore on bass, have played at venues and festivals throughout Europe and the US and open the Upton Bishop Jazz Club to a maximum potential audience of 200 (the capacity of the Millennium Hall) having played to a total audience of around 10,000 at the London Gin Festival. They are widely regarded as one of the most exciting swing music acts to emerge from the UK over the last five years and are regularly flown to places such as Monaco, San Sebastián, Barcelona and Vegas to play at celebrity parties and events.

Last years highlights for the band, whose music is described as a unique twist on 1940s swing jazz with boundless energy and light-hearted exuberance, included performances at the star-studded Wimbledon Sunday charity party, the Rugby World Cup celebrity ball, the indoor Cricket World final and headlining the Vegas Unplugged music festival (Las Vegas).

Holder and Smith open the Upton Bishop Jazz Evenings on Tuesday, September 6 at The Millennium Hall, Upton Bishop. Tickets, which include a glass of bubbly, are £10 in advance or £12 on the door. To reserve, call Maddy on 07970 343148. Doors open at 7.30pm.