A TALENTED and popular drummer died on the last night of the annual jazz festival in Ireland, an inquest heard.

Edward (Ed) Hannaby, 43, was well-known on the jazz scene in North Wales and the North West.

He was attending the festival in Cork with his father Derek, also a musician, and partner Katie Jacks.

They had returned to their hotel at about 1.30am on October 30 after being to a gig and expected Ed Hannaby to follow after playing in a later gig.

Ms Jacks told the hearing in Ruthin that she fell asleep and later had a call to say Ed Hannaby had been taken to Cork University Hospital.

The family managed to trace a workman called Gareth who said he had seen Mr Hannaby walking down a street, then turn back before falling back and hitting his head.

Gareth tried to resuscitate him but he never recovered consciousness and he died on November 2. A post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered a cardiac arrest caused by disease of the artery.

Recording a conclusion of natural causes, Joanne Lees, assistant coroner for North Wales (East and Central), said it was clear the cardiac event had caused the fall.

Derek Hannaby told the inquest that he and his son, a former pupil of Darland School in Rossett and Yale Sixth Form College in Wrexham, had been attending the Cork festival for 14 years.

Mr Hannaby said in a statement read out at the hearing: “He was very happy and high on the thrill of playing.”

Ed Hannaby formerly lived in Marford before moving to Long Lane, Newton, Chester.

Following his death some of his organs were donated for transplant and £1,674 was raised for Chester Aid for the Homeless and Columbanus, a Cork-based charity which helps seriously ill hospital patients.

For several years Ed played with the Five and a Penny band and then with the Bill Basie Big Band.

He also had his own band, the Ed Watt Band.

In a tribute following his death fellow musician Allan Wilcox said: “He had a wonderful ear, an innate sense of swing and a technique that, to a non-drummer at least, was breathtaking.”

Another friend, Derek Harrison, described him as “an unusually talented drummer and vocalist who thrilled many with his style and technique".

"I had the pleasure of playing alongside him many times.”