BRECON Jazz Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in style by choosing legendary American composer Burt Bacharach to open this year's event.

Tim Powell, a director with Cardiff-based jazz festival operator Orchard, said of the sell-out gig at Brecon's Market Hall: "We kicked off on the Thursday evening (August 7) with a memorable performance by Burt Bacharach, who's written the soundtrack to so many of our lives, and who was a real gentleman.

"The audience in (Brecon's) Market Hall felt they'd been touched with stardust, and it was the best possible way to launch the 30th anniversary year," he added.

The standing ovations continued throughout the weekend, with the likes of Loose Tubes, Laura Mvula, and Gregory Porter playing to an appreciative audience.

"We'really pleased with the reaction to Brecon Jazz 2014 – we now need to take stock, speak to the local community, and look to develop ways to ensure the long term sustainability of a festival which brings a lot of financial benefits into the area, and which is clearly treasured by a great number of people," concluded Tim.

This was Orchard's third year as operator, and they are undertaking market research to determine the value of the festival to the regional economy.

The 2014 Brecon Fringe Festival was described by festival guide publisher Nigel Evans as 'Brecon at its very best'.

"I hope it's been good for Brecon and good for pub trade and other traders," he said.

"Most fringe venues were jam packed, this year's festival was Brecon at its very best."

See this week's Brecon & Radnor Express, on sale now, for more from the 2014 Brecon Jazz and Brecon Fringe Festivals