A Scottish daily’s jazz critic has retired after spending two decades with the newspaper.

Kenny Mathieson, pictured left, has announced he has stood down from the role at The Scotsman, 23 years after taking it on.

Kenny inherited the position from Tony Troon in 1992, having first written for the newspaper’s arts pages six years previously.

He also covered jazz music for Scotland on Sunday for four years from 1988, before moving to its sister daily.

In a farewell piece for The Scotsman, he wrote: “My decision to stand down this summer, and thereby complete my retirement as a freelance writer, has been the outcome of a gradual process.

“I have no idea how many concerts and recordings I have reviewed over the years, but however many it is, it has come to seem enough.

“Time to step aside and give someone else a turn. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.”

Last year The Scotsman faced a backlash from readers after it announced it would stop publishing reviews of classical, jazz and world music records.

The move led to jazz musician Tommy Smith setting up a petition calling on the Johnston Press-owned title to continue covering all music genres, which gained more than 800 signatures in just a few days.

Jim Gilchrist has now succeeded Kenny in the role.