Besides awesome music, one of the best things about this annual event is that its tried-and-true formula and venue remains largely unchanged. The main stage will dominate the grassy field at Civic Square (a.k.a. People's Park), which completely fills up with thousands of visitors, sprawled out on every available space. More recent years have seen audience members with an increasingly creative variety of set-ups, from candle-lit tables, complete with bottles of wine, to even the occasional small tent.

As always, the main stage will not be the only center of attention, with jazz fans hoping to get closer to the music able to do so at a smaller J-Stage situated nearby on the Calligraphy Greenway. And, of course, the Jazz Festival would not be complete without its other big attraction--dozens of vendor tents, lining Civic Square and the Greenway to sell a cornucopia of food and drinks, usually for exceptionally good prices. This makes the festival a default dinner option for many residents and visitors during the week.

The festival traditionally hosts a variety of headliner foreign acts--generally performing Saturday/Sunday evenings on the main stage--combined with a mix of smaller Taiwanese and foreign artists, mostly from around the island. It's important to note that the Taichung Jazz Festival has done an extremely good job at offering a very broad, often eclectic, variety of jazz that covers the full spectrum, to the edges of the genre to cross over into blues, rock, ethnic music and even hip hop. That means that you are almost guaranteed to find something to your musical liking, whatever your tastes and whether you consider yourself a jazz fan or not.

Just a few highlights from this year's musical feast are noted here, with a full range of Chinese/English information on artists found at the official www.taichungjazzfestival.com.tw website.