No, the biggest challenge facing European jazz musicians was the fact that they weren't American.

Jazz, at least as far as most audiences were concerned, could only be played by Americans, and if they were over 50, male, black and wearing suits, well, all the better.

Young Norwegian women might be great jazz musicians but they weren't going to get anyone out to witness the fact.

Thankfully, European audiences have come a long way since then, and the Irish audience is slowly beginning to follow. The legacies of Ellington, Parker, Coltrane and Davis continue to be an important source of inspiration for the musicians, and great American musicians will always get a hearing in Europe but, inspired by the few pioneers . . . like Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Tomasz Stanko . . . who managed to make a distinctly European sound, there is a new confidence in European jazz. It is that confidence that will be celebrated in 12 points! , an enlightened new jazz festival from the Improvised Music Company which takes place this week in the Project Arts Centre in Dublin.

12 points! (say it in French and you'll get the joke) is a pocketsized festival with a clear artistic focus . . . 12 concerts over four nights in the Project's excellent upstairs space, celebrating the richness and diversity of European musical culture. From Strasbourg, Budapest, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Sofia, Stockholm, Trondheim, Brussels and Helsinki they come, and you probably won't have heard of any of them, but anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the future of creative music should be clearing their diary.

From Berlin's fertile music scene come the Carsten Daerr Trio. These young Germans pay due heed to the great American tradition of the piano trio from Bill Evans to Brad Mehldau, but there is also a group ethic and a band sound that is more European, applying the more democratic ethos of an ensemble of equals, rather than a star-led trio. Still in their 30s, the trio's last CD, Bantha Food (Traumton, 2005) is the statement of a mature and selfassured ensemble with identity and purpose.

English iconoclasts Led Bib combine jazz and punk sensibilities with that typically British sense of wackiness. Their latest album, Sizewell Tea (Babel) is named after a tea shop that stands beside the infamous nuclear power plant in Suffolk and features a cover of David Bowie's 'Heroes' as well as a battery of originals.

The liner notes to Danish saxophonist Niels Lyhne Lokkegaard's latest album Light Airborne (Calibrated) proclaim that "the music on this CD was composed with one purpose in mind: I wanted to be true to myself." His determination results in music that is hard to pin down, revealing influences from both sides of the Atlantic.

The Irish element of 12 points!

will be one of the strongest groups on offer. White Rocket, featuring pianist Greg Felton, drummer Sean Carpio and trumpeter Jacob Wick (the only American in the entire festival! ), have emerged as one of the most exciting and innovative groups in Irish jazz with an original sound and the technical wherewithal to take it in new directions.

The festival also features sultry Belgian singer Melani de Biasio (see CD review); leading Finnish group Ilmiliekki, whose repertoire includes Tom Waits and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers; Swedish musical magpie Nils Berg; rising Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma and her quartet; the electro-improvisational trio Puma from Norway;

anarchic French ensemble La Poche a Sons; US-trained Hungarian pianist Daniel Szabo and his trio; and solo Bulgarian pianist Dimitar Bodurov.

Tickets for each night are a bargain at 20 for all three shows.

Can we have your votes please, Dublin!