Guitar virtuoso Al di Meola and drummer Mark Giuliana, who performed on David Bowie’s last album Blackstar, will be among the performers at the star-studded 27th edition of the Malta Jazz Festival, which will take place over three days between tomorrow and Saturday.

This year, the Malta Jazz Festival is branching out to Valletta’s streets and injecting creative energy in Malta’s growing jazz scene, in preparation for Valletta 2018.

The line-up ranges from Nicholas Payton’s blend of dialects of Afro-descent to Munir Hossn’s homage to the Brazilian northeastern heritage and di Meola’s Latin-infused fusion.

Di Meola, who last performed in Malta in 2012 and will close off this year’s festival on Saturday, was discovered by renowned jazz artist Chick Corea when he was 19 years old.

Apart from his music, he will also perform music by The Beatles and Astor Piazzolla at Ta’ Liesse.

Giuliana will play in the same venue on Friday with his jazz quartet. Friday night will be closed off by Payton, whose original mix of hip-hop, spoken word, New Orleans styles and contemporary jazz should be one of the highlights of the festival.

The line-up for tomorrow’s free concerts consists of one of Europe’s star jazz guitarists, Romain Pilon and multi-instrumentalist Munir Hossn. Pilon will perform with special guest Walter Smith III, one of the current leading saxophone players.

Hossn will appeal to lovers of Brazilian music thanks to his Brazilian jazz pop album Made in Nordeste, a contemporary approach to the music and rhythms from his native Brazilian northeast region.

The festival kicks off tomorrow and runs until Saturday at 8pm. Lunchtime concerts are also being held all throughout the weekand a number of side events are happening as part of Jazz on the Fringe.

More information may be obtained from www.maltajazzfestival.org. Tickets can be bought from showshappening.com.