A year ago musical history was made in Oxford, when one of the world's longest-serving bands walked on to the stage at the city's Zodiac club.

The band were Jamaican ska masters The Skatalites - pioneers of Caribbean music since the 1960s.

While the old Zodiac may have gone, The Skatalites are not only still playing, but are on their way back to the Cowley Road, for a gig which is certain to unite all lovers of brass, ska, calypso and reggae.

Formed in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, The Skatalites were Jamaica's first, and only, true supergroup.

First meeting at Kingston's Alpha Boys School, a facility for wayward youths run by Roman Catholic nuns, they combined Caribbean folk and calypso with New Orleans rhythm and blues, to create what was then the new sound of 'ska' - which later evolved into reggae.

They also provided backing, and inspiration, to a certain Bob Marley and The Wailers.

The band are being brought back to Oxford next Saturday by East Oxford DJ Aidan Larkin - who was responsible for inviting them here a year ago.

And he is no less delighted at having them back for his Skylarkin' Soundsystem club night.

"It took 18 months of negotiations and preparations to get The Skatalites onstage in Oxford, last year, at one of the final concerts to take place in the old Zodiac," says the trilby-sporting Irish-born reggae-lover.

"It was a truly electric evening, with an unparalleled atmosphere.

"It was also a lifetime's ambition fulfilled for me, personally - to step onstage and introduce the men that forged the distinctive ska sound that ruled the Jamaican dancehalls in the 1960s; which crossed over to Britain via skinheads, Trojan Records and groups like The Specials; and which has obsessed me since I first heard the basslines booming out of Brixton market as a teenager."

And what tunes!

Instrumentals like Guns Of Navarone and Phoenix City still sound fresh, while the four-part horn harmonies of Musical Communion, Eastern Standard Time and Freedom Sounds are big brassy anthems which recall the optimism of newly independent Jamaica and still compel you to move your feet.

"Time after time, their legacy refuses to be forgotten," says Aidan.

"Sadly founding members like the great Don Drummond, Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook are no longer with us.

"But next week the people of Oxford have a second, precious opportunity to pay homage to the surviving originators of ska and reggae - now bolstered by the addition of the Alpha old boy, Studio One and Sun-Ra sax man Cedric 'Im' Brooks.

"And, believe me, when Lester Sterling strikes up the solo to Musical Communion, mine won't be the only moist eye in the house... again!"

The band are coming to the UK just to do this one-off show.

And, as Aidan explains, they are back at their own request.

"They rang me from Heathrow after playing their last gig here and told me that it was the best show they had played on the tour - and probably the best in years, and with the best atmosphere too.

"They wouldn't normally have come back to Oxford this soon, but they said they couldn't wait to come!"

The Skatalites play the Carling Academy a week on Saturday.

Support comes from Oxford's own Nine Ton Peanut Smugglers and Skylarkin' Soundsystem DJs Count Skylarkin & Indecision.

Doors open ridiculously early at 6.30pm, with a strict 10pm curfew, so don't be tempted to loiter in the pub first!

Tickets are £18.50 in advance - including an afterparty at the nearby Hi Lo Jamaican Eating House.