The Swanage Jazz Festival features most kinds of jazz played today and gives fans the chance to hear bands and styles they would be unlikely to hear in the normal course of local jazz club gigs. The venues are close together so you can sample everything, if you want to: New Orleans, Dixieland, swing, bebop, post bop, ‘contemporary’ and bands that are definitely jazz but defy classification. The festival tries to combine well-known musicians who have entertained us many times before with younger musicians whose talent and enthusiasm for the music mark them out, in a programme that will appeal to most jazz fans.

For three nights in July experience acts such as Christian Garrick Quartet, Dave Brennan’s Jubilee Jazz Band and David Newton.