A rare vinyl record featuring blues legend Memphis Slim has been discovered in a charity shop in Huntingdon.

It is a recording of Memphis Slim at the St George Jazz Club in King’s Lynn in May 1961 and is so rare that it is being donated to the sound archive based at the British Library.

The record was discovered at the Oxfam Book shop in Huntingdon and was due to be handed over to a representative from the library on Wednesday (January 27).

Charity shop manager Geoffrey Stalker is unsure how much the record is worth but said the British Library were keen to have it for their collection. He has tracked down the person who donated the record to Oxfam and she is content for the British Library to put it on display.

“Her husband used to run a jazz/blues club in King’s Lynn and all the big blues/jazz stars from the US played there. Memphis Slim first came over to the UK in 1961 so the record we have may be one of the first recordings of him outside the US,” said Mr Stalker.

It is always exciting when we discover something like this, but we felt it was important, that because it is so rare, that it remains accessible to the public.”

Mr Stalker said sales of vinyl records had become extremely popular in recent years and it was now the shop’s most popular range of items.

“We are selling more and more vinyl so we would ask anyone who wants to donate or buy vinyl records to think of us.”

Memphis Slim, real name John Len Chatman, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1915 and was a pianist, vocalist and composer and died in 1988.