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To Colchester Arts Centre! …on Sunday evening, along with half of Wivenhoe it seemed. The occasion for the hyperlocal invasion of Sunny Colch was for a concert by the Chris Allard Band – one of the rising stars on the international jazz circuit. Chris has also been known to sip half a shandy in The Greyhound, his local boozer.

But first – what of the journey from downtown Wivenhoe to the bright lights of Sunny Colch? I’d wager that this is the first time that a bicycle seat has been taken inside the arena for a leading jazz performance.

My own wardrobe malfunction was thankfully balanced out by the brilliant costume change from another member of the Wivenhoe Cycling Jazz Club, who cleverly, and seamlessly transformed from a saddle girl to a glittering leading lady of jazz, all from the front floor of the Arts Centre as well.

Anticipation is always high whenever Chris is booked in to play his North Essex home patch. The recent Jaqui Dankworth / Allard gig at St Mary’s in Wivenhoe [blimey!] attracted a mainstream supportive crowd, keen to celebrate and welcome the arrival of a genuine jazz legend to a sleepy town.

Sunday night in Sunny Colch was more for the local jazzheads. The five members of the Chris Allard Band are all at the top of their game, technically without fault, creatively working as a genuine jazz collective.

Tempting though it was to close your eyes and allow the sounds to transport you to the locations some of the songs are named after, equally as interesting was watching the interaction between band members. I’m no jazz muso, but I managed to pick up on the subtle nods and winks, indicating a key change here, or perhaps taking a track somewhere that most definitely wasn’t planned in rehearsals.

The set featured old and new numbers, some with a Mediterranean feel, others, such as Point Clear, looking closer to the hyperlocal landscape for inspiration.

The Sunny Colch jazzheads lapped it up. There is a burgeoning jazz scene around Britain’s Oldest Recorded that continues to plug away, joyfully oblivious to other trends or trouser lengths. The regular sessions at Stanway Rovers are starting to pick up something of a local reputation.

The set came to a toe tapping close with another new number, Cheerful Shuffle. All five members of the band lived up to the job description with inner-guided smiles and even a little leg shake here and there.

But this is the Chris Allard Band, and the bandmaster was in complete control, guiding his musicians and allowing his guitar to hold it all together.

The return journey for the Wivenhoe Jazz Cycling Club attempted a similar tight knit community of cooperation as we cycled back under moonlight along the Wivenhoe Trail. Our rhythm was ruined by some red wine intake; the beat became disjointed when the jazz costume change back to civvies was overlooked.

“Jazz is not dead – it just smells funny,” as I remarked to @AnnaJCowen back at base. Time for a costume change.

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