You can't complain about the title and musical content of the Mostly Jazz Festival 2010 can you? If you rock up expecting Finland's greatest grindcore outfit (probably called Continuum Falkskog Death) or East London's sharpest grime MC (possibly called Nippy T-Pot) and then attempt to get a refund out of the organizers, I think you may get a stern ticking-off. Hell, even Florence and the Machine and Dizzee aren't playing this one (I will just double-check though ..... nope, we're OK) [even Ellie Goulding doesn't get a look-in for this one! - Ed]. What you will discover though is a tight-as-a-croc's-grip line-up that is guaranteed to put the sun in sunshine (and quite possibly, the 'shine' as well).

The Mostly Jazz Festival 2010

This very first Mostly Jazz Festival is an open-air two-dayer (no camping) and takes place on 3rd and 4th July in Birmingham's rather attractive Moseley Park and Lakes setting (the same location as the annual Moseley Folk Festival held in September). Tickets cost £28.50 per day (£15 for under 16s) or £48.50 / £25 for a weekend (2-day) ticket and on sale now.

Sun Ra Arkestra

So, what do you get for your hard-earned cash? Saturday 3rd July sees the legendary free-jazzing Sun Ra Arkestra, led by Marshall Allen, headline the main stage with funk-latin outfit, Quantic and his Combo Barbaro, Hammond-pummelling stalwarts, James Taylor Quartet, quirky London art-jazz quintet (and Mercury nominees) Polar Bear, another Mercury-chasing band Led Bib and mucky-funk septet Sister Henry and the Prescriptions. The supporting Yardbird Stage offers up a DJ set with Birmingham's very own Leftfoot, Quantic-supporting chanteuse Lizzy Parks and many more.

Courtney Pine

Sunday 4th welcomes the visionary Brit-Jazz star Courtney Pine, yet another worthy Mercury-award band, the excellent Portico Quartet, perennial funk-jazz and heavily-sampled outfit Cymande II, the Django-respecting guitarist Gary Potter (and trio), gypsy-jazz from The Bright Size Gypsies (again paying homage to Django Reinhardt) and the respected seniority of a true master, Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes. The Yardbird Stage brings you Brum-pianist and singer Sara Colman, K-Creative's sax-man Chris Bowden and many more.

Nice!