This year’s Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival brings together several US stars, a few intriguing collaborations and some of the most impressive players on the contemporary Scottish jazz scene, writes Jim Gilchrist

Even before the cultural behemoth of the International Festival and Fringe descends on Edinburgh in August, the capital will be jumping later this month with the 2024 Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. More than 120 events across the city between 12 and 21 July, in venues ranging from the Usher Hall to the (happily re-opened) Jazz Bar, will feature a legion of home-grown and incoming performers including US stars trumpeter Theo Croker, blues hero Mr Sipp and the festival’s cover girl, bassist Nik West, an intriguing strand of Czech jazz, and such celebrated Scottish names as Tommy Smith and Niki King, plus fast-rising talents such as Ben Shankland and Marianne McGregor.

Summarising the programme’s eclecticism, festival director Fiona Alexander likens it to the three angles of a triangle. “The first is a kind of homage to where it all began, in the USA, so we’ve got Mr Sipp and Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton headlining our blues programme. Then we’ve got a festival favourite, Davina and the Vagabonds, and a hotly tipped newcomer, New York’s Anaïs Reno, headlining the singers programme, while American trumpeter Theo Croker is the new star of the modern jazz scene.”

Alexander’s next angle she describes as “creation and collaboration”. She’s particularly excited about trumpeter Laura Jurd curating a Folk to Freedom series, including her new band featuring Irish fiddler Ultan O’Brien, accordionist Martin Green from folk supergroup Lau, bassist Ruth Goller and drummer Corrie Dick.

That angle also covers the festival’s annual SPARK strand, this year spotlighting the fertile Czech jazz scene, including award-winning pianist Kristina Barta, as well as the idiosyncratic trombone, accordion and double bass configuration of Treetop. There’s Italian content as well, such as drummer Roberto Gatto and trumpeter Daniele Raimondi (who’ll be gigging with Scots saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski).

Some of the collaborations the festival has engendered explore the music’s grassroots, such as Ali Affleck’s Travelling Janes, presenting music from such legends as Louis Armstrong, Ma Rainey and Sidney Bechet – not least at what sounds like a riotous concert at Portobello Town Hall with the youthful but period-jazz-marinated Tenement Jazz Band and the sensational Hungarian stride pianist Cili Marshall.

Elsewhere, Scottish swing piano legend Brian Kellock will renew his acquaintance with revered US saxophonist Scott Hamilton, while the ever-industrious Playtime crew of Martin Kershaw, Graeme Stephen, Mario Caribe and Tom Bancroft host UK trumpeter, Byron Wallen and multiple award-winning young Scots pianist Fergus McCreadie links up with the strings of the Manchester Collective.

And it’s Scotland’s own thriving jazz scene that informs Alexander’s third angle, with new works commissioned from the likes of guitarist Graeme Stephen, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy and saxophonist Helena Kay, while last year’s BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year, pianist Ben Shankland, also comes under the spotlight.

Still further collaborations involve Czech saxophonist Nela Dusová with bassist Ali Watson and drummer Stephen Henderson, with other projects including trumpeter Colin Steele re-imagining the music of the Blue Nile, while vocalist Niki King honours jazz divas Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington.

Further contemporary highlights include saxophonist Tim Garland and his Lighthouse Trio with Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis, while among other featured masters of trad and swing, pianist Kellock also joins Scottish reedsman John Burgess, clarinettist Hamish McGregor plays “Ball, Barber and Bilk” and continental swing ambassadors include France’s Jazz Rebels and, from Spain, the Swing Kats.

The festival is streaming a number of ticketed but free online concerts, while its hugely popular Mardi Gras will, as ever, pack out the Grassmarket on Saturday 13th.

Tickets for some gigs are selling fast – Jools Holland has already sold out the Festival Theatre, while Alexander adds that other festival favourites such as Davina and the Vagabonds and bluesman Jerron Paxton are selling well: “But the first show to sell out was the revival of Blues and Trouble. That took off like a steam train.”

For full programme and ticketing, visit www.edinburghjazzfestival.com

What to see at the 2024 Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, including US stars Theo Croker, Mr Sipp and Nik West