Most euphonious name on the circuit, Ballydehob Jazz Festival, has unveiled its line-up with, in a coup for the village, the Neil Cowley Trio headlining for 2013.

The Cowley Trio, about to release their first live album and DVD, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, were the biggest selling UK jazz artists in 2012 with their ‘hit’ album The Face of Mount Molehill, and drew in ever larger audiences live, with the band playing the Barbican in London for the first time, and touring in the US.

Also for Ballydehob, a still fairly new festival in West Cork, Ireland (the jazz version of Other Voices?), set this year for its seventh running, are Kitten and the Hip, that’s ex-Freak Power/Loose Tubes trombonist Ashley Slater and singer/songwriter Kitten Quinn’s band; with Mongoose; Earthship; and Camilla Griehsel / Maurice Seezer, all to appear. MB

Ballydehob Jazz Festival runs from 3-6 May http://www.ballydehobjazzfestival.org

Festival time in Ballydehob: pictured top at the festival club; the Neil Cowley Trio middle; and Kitten and the Hip, above