Rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream are coming on apace despite the problems of absentees, drop-outs and sackings that seem to attach themselves to large cast productions.  But it will be grand.

I've been time-sharing that with the Jazz Festival and the accompanying Jazz Summer School.  The thirty odd participants were split into five bands and our week's work culminated in a great little gig in the Jazz Bar this afternoon.  The band I was in played a couple of classics by Miles Davis and Duke Ellington but the theme of the week was reworking the masters so our versions presented several novel twists including a chorus of Swanee River.  Not for the faint-hearted listener.

Last weekend I saw several concerts and the head out winner was an band called Rumba de Bodas.  They presented a rocket fuelled hour and a half of great music.  Catch them on Youtube or better still live.

Second, in a very different vein was a group led by a New York based Scottish saxophonist who has produced an album of jazzed up Ivor Cutler numbers.  I swore that I wouldn't buy any CDs at the festival this year but I thought his Glasgow Dreamer project was such an interesting and worthwhile project that I shelled out for one at that gig.  I'm glad I did because I think the music comes over better on the CD than it did in the City Art Centre.  The instrumental balance is much better, thanks no doubt to mixing skills and equipment more readily found in Brooklyn than Edinburgh.

I'll pack in a few more gigs this weekend finishing off around midnight on Sunday with some of my favourite local players.