Halloween and the Guinness Jazz Festival are never far apart. First we get the macabrely dressed processions of the skeletal and the deathly pale roaming from door to door in search of nourishment. And then we get Hallowe'en. This year, however, Cork's world famous music festival is happening on the weekend before Halloween, from Friday 23 to Monday 26 October. Not that this is likely to dampen spirits in any way. Even with an obviously reduced budget, festival organisers have put together a programme that will guarantee a few fireworks, if also some damp squibs and the odd stink bomb.

Principal amongst the fireworks will be drummer Jack Dejohnette, who cut his teeth with legends like Coltrane, Monk and Miles Davis, and is now approaching living legend status in his own right, as one-third of Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio. Meaningless as such titles are, Dejohnette has become the drummer most likely to be called "best in the world" and many will flock to his concert with saxophonist John Surman on Sunday afternoon to tick him off their list.

Also from Chicago, singer Kurt Elling is one of the few male vocalists to enter the lion's den of contemporary jazz improvisation and emerge with his dignity intact. Elling's long-time pianist, the excellent Laurence Hobgood, and legendary "west coast" saxophonist Ernie Watts, join the singer for Saturday night's headline concert.

Also worth checking out will be arch ironists The Bad Plus, courageous Israeli-Palestinian saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, an all-woman band led by pianist Nikki Iles and the famously liberated saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. Amongst the more questionable choices on the programme are anarcho-syndicalist noodlers the Sun-Ra Arkestra (minus Sun Ra who has been absent, in a strictly bodily sense, since he passed away in 1993) and guitarist Al Di Meoloa, who is the sort of arid technician who gives the word virtuoso a bad name.

After an absence of two years, the Triskel Arts Centre makes a welcome return to the festival with a small but perfectly formed programme of Irish acts, including Belfast guitar wunderkind Mark McKnight, pianist Phil Ware and his hard-swinging trio, and a group of international stars led by Ireland's leading guitar innovator, Mike Nielsen. Triskel are currently homeless, as they await the redevelopment of the Christ Church venue in the city centre, but in the meantime they have comandeered an excellent space in the new Jurys hotel with views of the river that looks set to become a haven of listening comfort in a city still starved of suitable venues.

Fun will surely be had. Crowds will descend on Cork as usual, and some may even listen to the music. My advice is to light the blue touch paper and stand well back.