TEN MUST- SEE SHOWS AT JAZZ FEST THIS YEAR

There is nothing quite like the focused, intimate transfer of energy you can find in a small club setting where serious players take you into the night with personal grooves and spontaneous inspiration.

Clubs form the nightly foundation of this year's jazz fest, with artists from Edmonton trying out special projects or new repertoire and some high-wattage names from distant locales dropping in to do their thing.

The next two weeks will be packed with lots of straight-ahead jazz and some beyond-category musical experiments, but here's Roger Levesque's top 10 recommended shows to catch.

EXPLORATION S GUITAR TRIO BELLAMY'S LOUNGE, JUNE 27

Guitar fan? Multiply that by three once you catch Explorations Guitar Trio, diverse local string slingers Gus Butcher, Brett Hansen and George Koufogiannakis. Separately or together they tap into various sides of the jazz tradition and wider, exotic, international streams.

ANTELOPER, WITH FREE GOLF CLUBS 9910, JUNE 27

Jamie Branch (trumpet) and

Jason Nazary (drums) bring solid jazz chops while skirting the edge of musical forms with noisy improv and fried electronics in the acclaimed duo Anteloper. Once in a while they even throw in a song. Edmonton quartet Free Golf Clubs brings two saxophones, guitar and drums to find their own loose chemistry.

AL JACOBSON'S SLIDE ZONE ICE DISTRICT STAGE, JUNE 28

The “slide” refers to that heavy metal tool that makes the trombone an extra challenge and a unique, celebrated part of the jazz-band arsenal. The repertoire is wide when veteran horn man Jacobson brings together four — count 'em, four — trombonists including pal Audrey Ochoa plus a rhythm section for this promising venture into lunch hour roof-raising, one of several free shows at Ice District starting at noon.

GHOST-NOTE, WITH FIRE! STAR LITE ROOM, JUNE 28

Formed by two members of Snarky Puppy, this returning seven-piece horn-heavy funk-jazz unit takes off from pioneers like Herbie Hancock to pull in 21st-century hip-hop and Afro-funk influences. I dare you not to move. But the real sleeper of this show could well turn out to be the opening trio Fire!, featuring the ferocious saxophonics of Sweden's free-jazz innovator Mats Gustafsson. Get ready to have your ears cleaned.

M BOY A NICHOLSON QUARTET BELLAMY'S LOUNGE, JUNE 29

Pianist Nicholson pulls in influences from all over the jazz tradition, showing a special gift for Ellington, Monk and Peterson among others. It will be a treat to see him in a quartet setting with guitarist Jamie Philp, bassist Aretha Tillotson and drummer Jamie Cooper. They also host the jam afterwards.

TOO MANY ZOOZ AND KANYE WEST RE: JAZZ STAR LITE ROOM, JUNE 30

It's a return date for New York subway trio pioneers Too Many Zooz, baritone saxophonist Leo P., trumpeter Matt Doe and a drummer who dubs himself King of Sludge. They call their multi-faceted grooves and raunchy horns “brass house”. Along with a fondness for Latin beats it's really about the fun of tapping those elemental ingredients. Plus, Kanye West wouldn't be the most obvious featured composer at a jazz fest but his tunes will be interpreted and reinvented by the combined forces of two Edmonton quartets, Good Information (guitar, bass, keys, drums) and Vertrex, a classical-format string quartet.

JOCELYN GOULD QUARTET YARD BIRD SUITE, JULY 1

It's no small thing that this Toronto guitar star just picked up the jazz Juno for her debut recording Elegant Traveller, but this rising talent shows a grasp of the rich tradition of jazz guitar greats that's far beyond her years with fine original content too. Drummer Curtis Nowosad also figures in her rhythm backing.

LINA ALLEMANO FOUR YARD BIRD SUITE, JULY 2

Familiarity breeds great communication for the quartet led by Edmonton-raised trumpeter Lina Allemano, transplanted to Toronto for more than 20 years now. Saxophonist Brodie West, bassist Andrew Downing and drummer Nick Fraser are the long-standing soulmates who join her in navigating the edges between coherent structures, collective improvisation, melodic adventures and harmonic explorations to surprise themselves.

ANDY MILNE & UNISON YARD BIRD SUITE, JULY 3

Few Canadians sport the credentials pianist Andy Milne has built up through several decades in Toronto and then New York, drawing from his early training with Oscar Peterson to work with Steve Coleman, Ralph Alessi and others as he fashioned his own bands. His group even won the jazz Juno Award in 2019, but the new trio Unison is something else again, with Milne accompanied by experts, bassist John Hebert and drummer Clarence Penn. Progressive, tuneful, exciting, rich in nuance and smartly original are just a few taste notes to Milne's sound.

JAM SESSIONS BELLAMY'S LOUNGE, JUNE 28 THROUGH JULY 3

Funny thing about jazz musicians — get them fired up and they don't always want to stop. Hence the latenight stage at Bellamy's, in the festival's host hotel Chateau Lacombe, scene of numerous surprise encounters through the years, usually starting after 11 p.m.

Find a complete schedule, ticket info and details at edmontonjazz.com. Roger Levesque yegarts@postmedia.com