FOR a long weekend every August since 1984, one of Britain’s biggest international jazz festivals has taken over the Welsh market town of Brecon.

Jed Williams had the vision that transformed the hot, uncomfortable Market Hall, complete with its posters for best brisket and Welsh lamb, into one of Europe’s most exciting concert stages. Here epic battles between great soloists took place, thanks to the artistic director of Brecon Jazz — one of the most accomplished backroom figures in the genre.

Williams’s importance to jazz was greater than his dynamic festival organisation, which successfully trod the tightrope between public subsidy and commercial sponsorship. He was also the creator of the essential bimonthly listings magazine Jazz UK.

A Welshman through and through, Williams attended Howardian Grammar School in Cardiff. There his fellow pupils included Chris Hodgkins, who later became the head of the funding and information body Jazz Services, who was then a trumpeter. Williams subsequently played drums in his band.

The passion for jazz bit early, and after a short spell in business, Williams became the manager of the jazz section of Spiller’s Record Shop in The Hays, Cardiff, soon establishing the department as a mecca for local enthusiasts.

In 1980 he became administrator of the Welsh Jazz Society, having already involved himself in the 1970s Cardiff summer jazz festivals. During his time at the society, Williams established the Four Bars Inn in Cardiff as the city’s leading jazz venue, and with his flair for winning over corporate allies he got the backing of Brains’ Brewery to present jazz in a relaxed, informal setting that was greatly preferred by most local fans to the formal austerity of the concert hall.

National and international stars played at the Four Bars Inn during the 1980s, and Williams had an easy rapport with his musicians, who respected his integrity and breadth of musical knowledge and taste.

These qualities were ideal for his role at Brecon, which he built up with a canny combination of great names and home-grown talent. The local community was involved; not just as marshals and stewards but in bands such as the Icon Jazzmen and John Latham’s Swansea Group, which appeared on the programme from the outset alongside stars that ranged from the Marsalis brothers to Michael Brecker.

Williams had an eye for new talent too. He launched the careers of musicians such as the young drummer Tim Giles, who first played Brecon in his early teens. Williams introduced many American and European players to British audiences, as well as rehabilitating older stars such as Illinois Jacquet and presenting unfamiliar names such as the tenorist Benny Wallace.

In the main halls, and on a series of outdoor stages, Williams consistently presented a broad swath of jazz styles, played by musicians from all over the world.

During the 1980s, most regional arts organisations produced independent information sheets about jazz in their own areas, but in 1991, Williams was appointed by Jazz Services as managing editor, charged with co-ordinating this information on a national basis.

The result was Jazz UK, an increasingly glossy magazine which combined listings of clubs, bands and concerts with editorial copy about current tours and festivals. Williams edited it himself for almost ten years until the first of a succession of illnesses led him to hand the job over to yjr the Guardian jazz critic, John Fordham.

The effects of recurrent pancreatitis, the foot-and-mouth crisis and diminishing sponsorship all took their toll on Williams and Brecon Jazz as the new century dawned. The organisation was revamped last year, transferring much of the administrative burden to the Theatr Brycheiniog. However, Williams overcame past difficulties to present an outstanding programme in August this year, and was looking forward to planning the twentieth anniversary festival when he was taken ill with an acute viral infection. He is survived by his wife Carolyn.

Jed Williams, jazz festival director and magazine editor, was born on June 12, 1952. He died on November 9, 2003, aged 51.