Record numbers turned out for this year’s 29th Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival who turned up to listen to great music and enjoy glorious sunshine.

Ten days of continuous fine weather saw numbers soar for a festival that regularly stages approximately 200 events in venues across the city, nearly all free, many of them outdoor.

Enthusiastic audiences flocked to city centre sites such as St Philip’s Cathedral grounds, Birmingham Markets, Church Street Square and Victoria Square while the festival maintained an all-day presence in the Jazz Shop in Great Western Arcade.

Major concerts highlighted the first weekend at StarCity and the second weekend at the Botanical Gardens, with such historic settings as the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Barber Institute and the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.

Musicians flew in from such countries as the United States, Lithuania, France, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Canada and the Netherlands to bring top-quality jazz and blues to audiences revelling in the tropical weather.

All images copyright Merlin Daleman            

More Jazz Festival 2013 pictures here