"Ruth's got quite a name for playing the jazz organ..."

"I've only been rejected from one job so far because I'm female," confesses award winning jazz saxophonist and organist Ruth Hammond.

"The band were on the road a lot and I think they could see problems about the clothes changing facilities."

I'll wager that none of those shy guys have ever earned themselves a week's residency at the legendary Ronnie Scott's club in London (a runner's up prize for Ruth in the Young Jazz Musician Of The Year 1998 competition), or trained with some of the country's top musicians in what sounds like the dreamiest of dream college degree courses - a BA in Jazz Studies.

At just 23, Ruth, from Swindon, has achieved all this, and no doubt there's much more to come, so she's not so bitter at her one and only rejection. As possibly Britian's only female jazz organ player, she's already too professional for that sort of nonsense. And it's this which is earning her plaudits on Bristol's eclectic jazz circuit.

Ruth, together with ace drummer husband Scott Hammond and guitarist James Forster, go out as The Forster-Hammond Trio.

The band insist they are 100 per cent equal partners, "Hammond" referring both to Ruth and Scott's surname and to the style of music they play, named after that musical epitome of sixties cool jazz - the mighty Hammond organ.

At a combined age of 76, the trio (23,26 and 27) are just a year older than Jimmy Smith, the high priest of the Hammond sound, whose distinctive recordings for the Blue Note and Verve labels in the Fifties and Sixties set the benchmark for every subsequent jazz organist.

But Smith's keyboard histrionics are not Ruth's main influence. She prefers American organist Larry Goldings, who plays a far more subtle Hammond, and she also cites her former Leeds College of Music tutor, pianist Nikki Iles, as a mentor.

Although the trio have been playing only six months, Scott and James, both from Bristol, met musically as teenagers. James was even then deeply into the blues and Scott was just discovering jazz. When Scott met Ruth at college - and wooed her by inviting her to join his funk band - the trio was complete.

Picking the distinctive style they play wasn't difficult. All were fans of the breezy mid-Sixties sound - think of the music for the Renault car adverts and you've got it - but they were equally aware that they didn't want to come across as a completely retro outfit.

"A lot of the stuff we do comes from that period," explains James, "but we also include quite a few modern influences. We're not trying to copy the organ trios of the sixties, although there's a particular vibe to the style which we're all into."

That vibe attracts a variety of people to their gigs, from the purists to a generation of newer fans who appreciate young musicians who don't need to crank up the amps and beat their drums to a bloody pulp to foster "attitude".

In fact, the subtle energy and sense of musical intuition between the three is probably their greatest strength, particularly when a jazz audience will generally listen in unnerving silence, heads nodding, with just the occasional flurry of hand-clapping for a particularly well executed solo.

Performing, the band will generally kick off with the tune proper, then move into individual solo passages. Although they rehearse, this part is always improvised, with the result that although musical themes can remain similar, they rarely play the same thing twice. At best it sounds effortless and the trio are keen to make sure that one sound doesn't dominate.

"We don't have musical competitions between us," insists Scott. "James has taught Ruth and me a lot about the blues, while we've passed on what we know about jazz to him. Rivalry of any sort would just breed unmusicality."

The trio would like to remain as that, although they may be open to the idea of musicians joining in for one-off performances. Meanwhile, they're getting ready for a variety of gigs throughout the summer, including the prestigious Birmingham Jazz Festival. They aim to break into London's jazz scene and Scott and Ruth, who now live in the capital, are already making useful contacts from other musical projects.

"Female jazz instrumentalists are few and far between," says Ruth, "and it's definitely a male dominated world. That doesn't mean to say, though, that it's a 'man's music'. There are enough women instrumentalists around to make what they do very highly regarded."