IAN BOWDEN had been visiting the picturesque town of Rye for 20 years before he started to think he could bring together his love of Sussex scenery with his passion for music. The founder of the Rye International Jazz and Blues Festival lives near Tunbridge Wells but jokes that his “car is on auto-pilot to Rye”.

“I just thought it would be a beautiful location to hold the event,” he says. “One of the things I’m passionate about is that the host of a festival should have a soul. Rye has that in abundance as well as history and heritage. What we’ve created with the festival is an experience – it’s more than just about a gig.” Bowden comes off as somewhat of an ambassador for the seaside town – and, as anybody who has ever visited Rye can testify, it more than justifies such support.

“There are wonderful bars, hotels and restaurants too,” says Bowden, adding to the plus points of a place which also stunning sea views and historic architecture. One such building is St Mary’s Church, which has been a proud fixture of the town for more than 900 years.

It hosts all four concerts of the festival’s programme; former Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, the London Community Gospel Choir (pictured, left) with soul star Mica Paris, jazz musicians Ian Shaw and Claire Martin and Keane frontman-turned-solo-artist Tom Chaplin. “The church is a stunning venue with brilliant natural lighting – people naturally want to go and see music in that kind of environment,” adds Bowden.

Having grown up with a musical background – Bowden studied at the Royal Academy of Music for two years – the festival director eventually realised jazz was his predominant passion. “My uncle always visited [London jazz club] Ronnie Scott’s and used to play me classic albums of the genre. That triggered a lot of my own musical interest.” Bowden used to work in marketing, too, which inevitably helps when arranging the logistics of the festival.

A quick glimpse at the line-up tells you that the festival goes beyond the remit of jazz and blues; you’d be hard pushed to attribute those genres to Tom Chaplin’s for instance, and Rick Wakeman’s illustrious history in music, spanning over 90 albums, is more associated with progressive rock (with Yes) and glam-rock. He played on the recorded version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity.

Bowden says that a small festival like his should always be seeking to “broaden its horizons”, though. He cites Jamie Cullum as an example of a musician who has helped to give jazz a more mainstream appeal.

“There are purists who love any hardcore pure jazz and to be honest I think that can be a turn-off for some other people. Our programme has to be diverse enough to offer something to the hardcore purists and also those who might like one or two aspects of jazz.”

Below, Bowden gives his thoughts on the artists he has selected for this year’s programme.

Rick Wakeman

Thursday, December 8

Picking a set from more than 90 records is a very hard job. Rick has a reputation for being a raconteur who engages with the audience. He’ll be playing a whole selection of different music and talking about this experiences. I don’t know a huge amount about Yes, so it’s going to be an interesting gig for me too.

Tom Chaplin

Thursday, December 15

Tom lives very near to Rye and grew up in Hastings. I knew he was working on a new album and I started to make advances to get him to play as part of our festival. One day my colleague Peter was out walking his dog in Rye and he bumped into Tom with his wife and daughter. He introduced himself to Tom, who said he’d love to play the festival.

London Community Gospel Choir with Mica Paris (Christmas concert)

Friday, December 9

It’s been very much in our mind to do something related to Christmas. Mica Paris recommended the combination between herself and the LCGC, who are the highest-profile band of that ilk in the UK. They’ve worked with Blur, Paul McCartney and Madonna. The combination between the two is going to create that wow factor.

All events 8pm. Rick Wakeman: £42. LCGC with Mica Paris: £42. Ian Shaw and Claire Martin: £25. Tom Chaplin: £50. ryejazz.com