As artist in residence at Tate Britain in 2009 jazz saxophonist Tim Whitehead had plenty of magnificent art to inspire him but it was the work of former Twickenham resident JMW Turner that particularly fired his imagination.

He took Turner’s ‘colour beginnings’ watercolours, a series of studies for larger works in which the artist plotted composition and colours, as the inspiration for a collection of jazz pieces which he has now recorded for an album and he is heading out on tour to play the tracks live - a jaunt that includes a performance at the Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames on October 3.

Whitehead, a Ham resident, says Turner’s experimental paintings proved to be the perfect starting point for his improvisations.

“Turner’s work has a fantastic edginess to it,” he explains.

“He is experimenting and mucking around. He’s doing lighting designs and colour theory and he’s trying out all the things that became hallmarks of his work. He was incredibly modern - he used his hands, rubbed and scraped and flicked paint, a long way before Jackson Pollock.

“He did this to create feelings and elemental effects and the questions arises that why wouldn’t you chose him for a jazz project like this, rather why would you.

Whitehead says that once he started immersing himself in the life and work of the influential artist, the music flowed easily.

“For the first two months I just looked at pictures and researched books and letters, and looked at the many people who were associated with him, including Constable,” he adds.

“After a couple of months I was bursting with the stuff. Originally I wasn’t going to start writing until much later but in the end I just felt I had to start making the music.”

Whitehead worked on his pieces in the evenings once the gallery had closed its doors to the public. He lined up Turner’s paintings on easels and spontaneously responded to them. The music was then played at a number of events at Tate Britain and Whitehead was delighted with the overwhelmingly positive reaction from the public.

He says: “We performed to all ages and we had some marvellous responses - one GCSE student said to me that when I was playing the colours seemed more vivid and when I stopped they seemed to sink back again, which I was amazed and touched by.”

At the Riverhouse gig Whitehead and the Personal Standards Quartet will perform the tracks from the Colour Beginnings album in front of a projections of Turner’s watercolours so audience members will be able to see the great artist’s paintings brought to life in all their technicolour glory for themselves.

Colour Beginnings, The Riverhouse Barn, Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames, October 3, 7.30pm, £12, 01932 253354