Big names Trumpeter Guy Barker has been nominated for the Mercury twice. Pianist Stan Tracey is widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest living jazz musicians.

Rising stars A media frenzy surrounded pianist and singer Jamie Cullum when he signed a £1m record deal. Saxophonist Soweto Kinch has a Mercury nomination this year.

Who listens? A mature, discerning crowd not troubled by the vagaries of pop fashions.

Evolution Jazz was the dance music of its day when it became popular in the UK in the 1920s and 30s, after trickling from its US birthplace. After World War II, British jazz musicians who would be highly influential for the next 60 years, like Humphrey Lyttelton, Stan Tracey and Ronnie Scott, came to the fore.

Jazz remained highly popular in the 1950s but soon got overtaken by rock and roll and the scene suffered as a result. Jazz in the UK continued to innovate and evolve but mainly for a limited audience of enthusiasts - although there was a revival in the 1980s, during which artists like Courtney Pine emerged.