Well, clearly the big one this week has ninety candles on the cake - it's the birthday bash of the great Andy Hamilton.

Expect lots of Andy's friends, including Omar Puente, Lekan Babalola, Will Gaines, Black Voices and Nana Tsiboe. There will also be an appearance by the youngsters Andy teaches, the Notebenders Big Band, and a few notes from the birthday boy himself.

An evening with the grand old man of jazz in Birmingham is one of warmth and surprises in abundance.

Andy Hamilton's 90th Birthday Concert is at the Town Hall from 7.30pm on Wednesday. Tickets are a mere £10 from 0121 780 3333 or online at www.thsh.co.uk.

An exhibition of photographs of Andy, his band and guests by Russ Escritt is on display at Symphony Hall's Level 4 Foyer until March 31.

* From a veteran saxophonist to one of the most distinctive new sounds in modern jazz piano.

The fusion between hip-hop and jazz does not have to be made by freestyling to a swung beat - it can be a lot more assimilated than that.

Don't believe me? Well, take a listen to the Robert Glasper Trio. Pianist Glasper knows hip-hop well, having worked with Mos Def and Kanye West, but in his trio he introduces it in the cleverest and subtlest of ways.

Sometimes he appears to be his own sampler, looping his lines, cutting and pasting them over the great contemporary jazz beats provided by bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid.

The band have been together a long time and made two albums on Blue Note, Canvas and In My Element.

They appeal to the jazz piano trio fans - it's all acoustic - as well as to a broader, younger audience. You can hear the Robert Glasper Trio tomorrow night from 9pm (doors open 8pm) at the The Jam House. Tickets are £8 (£6) available on the door or at Jibbering Records 0121 449 4551 or Swordfish Records 0121 6334859.

* If you are still in the party mood at the end of the Andy Hamilton birthday concert, head from the Town Hall down to The Rainbow in Digbeth where you can catch Edgar Macias's Latin Combo - Edgar on piano, singer Lino Rocha, Cuban bassist Rey Crespo and Ray Butcher on trumpet.

This is the Jazz Club, presented by Birmingham Jazz, and tickets are £3 on the door. DJ Henry Vina will be spinning the discs from 8pm.

* On Friday the Midlands International Jazz Club, based at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre, welcomes Gary Husband and his band Drive.

Husband is as adept at the piano as he is behind the drum kit, but it is the latter role that he leads this aptly-named, high-powered contemporary jazz group.

An added bonus is the presence of Nottingham-born Julian Siegel on tenor saxophone.

The band plays at 8pm and tickets are £10 from 01543 412121 www.lichfieldgarrick.com

Also on Friday, if free jazz is more your thing, the Invention Convention meets again at the Hexagon Theatre at the Mac, courtesy of Fizzle and Birmingham Jazz.

Mike Hurley is convention organiser at the piano and the delegates are Tom Arthurs on trumpet, John Edwards on bass and Tony Marsh on drums.

Entrance is £6 (£4) on 0121 440 3838 or on the door. It starts at 7.30pm.

* If you have any news or views you'd like to share, email me at peterbacon@mac.com. The blog is at www.thejazzbreakfast.blogspot.com