Well, Easter’s over, those long walks in the country and long evenings in the pub garden can give way to some sitting inside and letting the head fill with some of the finest jazz there is. Yes, it’s time to head south, down that M5 all the way to 51.890 degrees north, 2.078 degrees west.

For those, so Wikipedia helpfully informs us, are the co-ordinates of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival – and it is already underway.

This will be the second year of eschewing the Everyman Theatre in favour of the tented village in the Imperial Gardens behind Cheltenham Town Hall that is Jazz On The Square. And this year, whether by Royal appointment or by sheer luck, it looks like the sun will shine on this semi-al fresco venture.

In fact, that wedding will be screened in the gardens tomorrow, but we will draw a veil over that in favour of much more important things.

Jamie

There are some nice themes this year, including the ongoing strong relationship between Norway and Cheltenham, which means the Tord Gustavsen band, Susanna (she previously of the Magic Orchestra) and Stian Westerhus will be appearing, and the Trondheim and Birmingham jazz colleges are combining their considerable student skills.

There is also a focus on piano trio music, very much a hallmark of the current jazz world. To this end, the very strong line-up includes: Jasper Hoiby’s Phronesis, the Neil Cowley Trio, Tom Cawley’s Curios, and Kit Downes’ trio which now might look like a sextet but is in essence a trio with horn accompaniment.

There are two more pianists at the heart of this festival. One is possibly Britain’s best-known current jazz export, and the other is, in my humble opinion, the most important British jazz musician of the last 50 years. Yes, we’re talking Jamie and Django here.

Jamie Cullum is a guest director at Cheltenham and his own gig sold out within hours if not minutes of going on sale. It’s the fact that he also puts his name behind some of the more exploratory music on offer at this festival that makes his presence so vital.

Django

Django Bates appears twice, with his Beloved Bird trio in tribute to Charlie Parker, and with a concert which presents him first as solo pianist and then leading a nine-piece for a new BBC Radio 3 commission. The band is called The T.D.Es, which is, I’m guessing, an honour Cheltenham’s artistic director Tony Dudley-Evans will always treasure above all others.

Django is also present as part of another, less discernible but nevertheless hugely important strand to this festival this year, and that is as a former Loose Tube. Other members of that ground-breaking jazz orchestra of the 1980s include Julian Arguelles, appearing with John Taylor, Martin France, leading his band Spin Marvel, and Chris Batchelor and Steve Buckley, co-leaders of Big Air. These and other Loose Tubes alumni have, of course, influenced many of the younger players at this festival, too.

There has been a change to one of the headline bands at Cheltenham. Due to an illness in the family, Dave Holland is no longer able to appear with the Overtone Quartet. His place has been taken by Larry Grenadier, making this band – Jason Moran on piano, Chris Potter on saxophone, Eric Harland on drums – still an all-star one.

There is bags of other great stuff going on right from now until Monday (the fun actually started last night), including a comprehensive programme of free fringe events. Find out all you need to know at www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazz