Folk and Jazz: Distilling an inventive spirit with 'Lego jazz'... and a few drams

'WHISKY," wrote the Highland author Neil Gunn, "is concerned about the limitations of the mind … It can be coarse and aggressive. But, perfectly conceived, it is creative fire."

Distilling an inventive spirit with 'Lego jazz' … and a few drams

Much creative fire, therefore, can be expected as the Inner Hebridean island that is home to some of the noblest spirits ever to glimmer in a glass becomes once again a weekend crucible of inspired music-making, in the Lagavulin Islay Jazz festival. Running 17-19 September, with a new sponsor in Lagavulin - one of the island's eight renowned distilleries - the festival's weekend headliners include the powerful New Orleans alto sax star Jesse Davis, right, playing with the award-winning Scottish based pianist Paul Harrison, as well as leading the Jesse Davis All-Star Islay Band, roping in such home-grown luminaries as trumpeter Colin Steele and saxophonist Phil Bancroft.

Other stylistically diverse guests include the lyrical and eclectic jazz piano of pianist Zoe Rahman, a new sax, bass and drums project from Martin Kershaw, the sonically delicate pairing of guitarist Graeme Stephen and singer Fiona Mackenzie in Bosie and the 1920s and 30s trad of the Nova Scotia Jazz Band.

Local singer Sheena Swanson joins the Violet Leighton band and Subie Coleman in a blues night, while a muscular closing bash comes from Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, the formidable band led by Steele and Kershaw which celebrates the music of Cannonball and Nat Adderley.

Part of the Islay weekend's charm is the fact that such stellar performers may be found playing in such engagingly diverse venues as a single malt distillery or a Gaelic college, a village hall or a bird reserve visitor centre.

Interchangeability is also the name of the game, as performers crop up in multiple configurations, guesting in each others' bands - "Lego jazz," laughs Mario Caribe, right, the Scots-domiciled Brazilian bassist who is a regular at the festival.

This year Caribe has assembled what promises to be an inventive quintet combining the visiting Rahman with the powerful Scots tenor saxophonist John Burgess, trumpeter Steele and drummer Stu Brown.

Caribe goes back a long way with Burgess, including the saxophonist's notable 1999 album, The Urge to Burge.

Playing with Rahman, on the other hand, is a fresh association. "We've never played together, but I like the openness of her playing. As a bass player, I feel that rhythmically, I can be very free and it could be a winning combination." Caribe sees the weekend's music shifting stylistically between contemporary jazz, hard bop and post-bop, "so it's going to be interesting, and cool".

He will also play in a quartet led by Burgess, as well as in Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. So there's little time for sight-seeing, he agrees: "But Islay is always wonderful. There's usually a dram at the gig, then you go to the next gig and there's another dram. It's great fun because the musicians are crossing each other all the time and at the end of the day we just all congregate in the hotel bar."

In between the Islay event and trying to build a conservatory at home before the bad weather sets in, Caribe is in the throes of releasing the new album, Hands On, he launched during the Edinburgh Jazz and blues Festival, having recorded it live at another relatively remote venue, Lyth in Caithness, with a quintet including another old Islay hand, the New York pianist David Berkman.

Back on the island, there are distractions other than music and whisky. The organisers have introduced a "taste of Islay" strand, with local seafood and beer thrown into the mix. And in what other jazz festival programme might one find the line "home-baked afternoon teas, featuring the legendary home baking from the original Portnahaven ladies"?

•The Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival runs from 17-19 September. For full details, see www.islayjazzfestival.co.uk