Scène CBC Television / Best Buy (on the esplanade of Place des Arts). Great names to look out for in the Brunantes Best Buy series, presented at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Scène CBC Television/Best Buy. Rouge Tzigane, consisting of guitars, bass, bouzouki and mandolin, formerly of ‘Blues Gitan’ band, re-interpretations of Django Reinhardt comps and gypsy classics plus original compositions. Pianist Marianne Trudel combines classical and improvised music in her album Espaces libres, celebrated by critics in 2005. Veteran guitarist Matthew Von Doran will also be there. Echoes of Metheny and Scofield, but even though he’s assimilated their styles, his music is very much his own.

Salon Jeanne‑Mance (foyer level), Hyatt Regency Montréal. Every night starting at 11 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency Montréal (the official hotel of the Festival) you can stop by the  Salon Jeanne‑Mance for the Jam Sessions Movado series of concerts, this year headed by John Roney and his very cool trio. It’s a great place to wind up your evening at the fest, and the music is all the better for the intimacy of the environment in which it’s performed. You can be sure that some big names performing elsewhere at the Festival will drop by for a jam, as they have in previous years. Take note that when you carry a Friends of the Festival card, you get priority access to the Jam Sessions Movado, where seating is limited. 18 years and over, please. 

Savoy du Métropolis (59, rue Sainte-Catherine Est). Couleur Jazz 91.9 is pleased to present a series of free concerts featuring Willow, the very appealing Montreal singer of folk-blues, so personally delivered you’ll think she was singing for your ears only. The Concerts intimes Couleur Jazz 91.9 will begin at 7 p.m., Thursday June 29^th and continue until July 9^th, with a break on the 4^th of July. It all takes place within the intimacy of the Savoy du Métropolis, at 59 Ste. Catherine Street East. You can pick up a pass for private concerts just by listening to Couleur Jazz 91.9.

Then, starting at midnight, it’s the Nightcap Molson Dry Couleur Jazz series, especially created for night owls. So if you’re up to it, come listen to the sounds of Phantom Power Combo Deluxe, a group of four veterans of the Quebec music scene who serve up very cool groove indeed. Long, sultry and exciting free nights to look forward to, for lovers of music and the night. It all starts at noon! Terrasse Amarula (the fountain of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal), Scène Alcan (at the entrance to the Complexe Desjardins) and the Scène CBC Television / Best Buy (esplanade of Place des Arts). You don’t have to wait for nightfall to hear jazz, because it all starts at noon, every day except July 4^th and 9^th on the esplanade of Place des Arts. Les midis Amarula features our very own ambassadors of Dixie, except that this year, there’s much more variety, with a bit of world music mixed in from groups like Gadji-Gadjo and it’s music from Eastern Europe with party-mode klezmer and the newly arrived Jtadi and its gypsy sounds on the Terrasse Amarula. There’s more action once again at 1 p.m., in the same place.  Dixieland Bands will also be featured in the new series Les Après‑midis Jazz Alcan on the Scène Alcan at 4 p.m., and the 5 à 7 CBC Television on the Scène CBC Television/Best Buy 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m., followed up on the Terrasse Amarula in the 7 à 8 Amarula series at 7 p.m.