Now in its third year, the Sligo Jazz Project, which begins on Tuesday, is heartening evidence of life beyond the jazz pale. Part summer school, part festival, a stellar teaching faculty has been assembled for the week and a number of concerts and jam sessions have been slated to keep them occupied. It's an unbeatable opportunity to hear world-class jazz musicians in the sort of conducive setting that a town like Sligo naturally generates.

Most stargazing will probably centre on Paul Wertico, drummer in the far-famed Pat Metheny Group for 18 years, who leads the drum faculty. He will also be playing in a trio on Saturday night with fellow tutors, virtuoso French bass guitarist Dominique di Piazza and Sligo-born Mike Nielsen, now one of Europe's most original voices on the guitar. Also in Sligo will be the peerless English vocalist Norma Wintsone, veteran US bassist Rufus Reid, Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen and Ireland's own jazz star Louis Stewart. Some of the concerts have already sold out . . . or entrance is guaranteed only to the participants . . . but a free festival club, featuring the students, and undoubtedly some of their tutors, will be running all week in the Harp Tavern on Quay Street.

Meanwhile, Kilkenny further consolidates its reputation as one of the country's premier arts festivals with a wideranging musical offering, the non-classical elements of which have been curated by Gerry Godley. Opening the festival on Friday 10 August will be the Mingus Dynasty, the big band dedicated to the iconic music of Charles Mingus and still managed by his wife Sue. An important proving ground for some of New York's finest musicians since the late '70s, the current line-up includes saxophonist Donny McCaslin, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and pianist George Colligan.

The lofty halls of St Canice's is the setting on Monday 13 August for a concert from the Tord Gustavsen trio, inheritors of the distinguished mantle of Scandinavian artists on the German ECM label, who will revel in the refined acoustics of the cathedral. Also on the bill for Kilkenny are Faroe Islands singer Eiv r Palsdottir, backed by a talented Irish group led by the great Donal Lunny, Dutch vocalist Fay Classen . . . who specializes in standards sung in the classic style . . . and Brazilian Forro singer Silverio Pessoa.

Meanwhile, knob-twiddler and all-round electro-dude Roy Carroll has come closer than most members of the wired generation to an authentic fusion of electronics and improvisation. His outrageous Trouble Penetrator mixes irreverence and inventiveness in equal measure and their rare outings in Dublin are the sort of gigs people tell you about after and you wish you were there. They will perform a new work, Input/Output, combining music and dance in collaboration with choreographers Maya Lipsker and Rebecca Walter in the Project Arts Centre from 7-11 August.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Finally, American saxophonist Tim Ries, one of the few serious musicians who also manages to enjoy a lucrative career as a firstcall session player, arrives in Ireland this month to play with a rock 'n' roll band called the Rolling Stones, of whom some of you may have heard. While he's here, he's taking a few of his friends from that band into JJ Smyth's on 17 August to play with guitarist Hugh Buckley's trio. Expect a crowd . . .and expect to be part of it.

Buckley is a busy boy these days. A new album is set for release next month and he features alongside his cousins Richie and Michael in a documentary to be aired this Tuesday night on RTE One.