No one’s really taking a walk on the wild side at the
Edinburgh Jazz Festival this year. But Pharoah Sanders
above might well give it a go

So the caravan moves on and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival hoves into view next week, running from 19-28 July. Have the combined effects of the credit crunch, recession, and the double dip made jazz festivals in Scotland and elsewhere for that matter more conservative in their programming in the last five years? In certain cases, yes. Yet well before the collapse of Northern Rock, Fred the Shred’s ludicrous capers and the fall of Lehman Brothers Edinburgh always had its fair share of soft trad, Dixie, and mainstream (basically that’s what makes a festival conservative, with a small 'c', in its programming). Yet its sheer heft makes the Edinburgh jazz and blues festival a feast of music despite the cutting edge side being lopped off. Only Pharoah Sanders walks on the wild side this year and even here his wilder years are mostly behind him. Pick of this year’s events. Well, here goes: Tia Fuller (19 July, Queen’s Hall), Graeme Stephen/Fraser Fifield (21 July, The Jazz Bar), Snarky Puppy (22 July, Queen’s Hall), Konrad Wiszniewski Quartet / Euan Stevenson Vilnius Quartet (24 July, 3 Bristo Place), Malene Mortensen (25 July, Palazzo Spiegeltent), Champian Fulton Trio (26 July, 3 Bristo Place), Fred Wesley and the New JBs (27 July, Queen’s Hall) and Pharoah Sanders + Phil Bancroft Quartet (28 July, 3 Bristo Place). Full details www.edinburghjazzfestival.com