Edinburgh Jazz Festival

Aga Zaryan, courtesy Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

Most people think festival season over here starts with the Fringe (which kicks off next weekend), but they're wrong. It actually begins two weeks earlier with the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.

I don't know who does publicity for this event, but I think they're doing a fairly sub-par job, because I hadn't even heard about it until a day or two before it started, even though it's been going on since 1978. You'd think they'd have their PR machine together by now. Or, maybe it's one of those ''you have to be in the know'' kinds of things. If it is, it shouldn't be, because the Festival's pretty awesome. This year, it drew in dozens of the finest jazz and blues musicians from all over the world to perform in venues in and around the Royal Mile. Tickets were, generally, quite reasonably priced (most around 10 pounds) and there were two big free events: a Mardi Gras parade at the Grassmarket and a carnival on Prince's Street.

Husby's a big fan of bluesy jazz, so we went to Aga Zaryan's show on Wednesday evening. Zaryan and her band were one of many groups from Poland appearing at the show, and they were fantastic, mixing their own songs with works by other composers and poets and one or two jazz standards.

So, music fans, just in case the word doesn't get out next year--definitely drop by Edinburgh for the festival if you're in the neighborhood. It's well worth the price of admission.