LANCASTER Jazz Festival has announced the full lineup for this year’s three-day event with MOBO award-winning Empirical set to headline.

The festival, which takes place from September 18-20, features over 100 artists across eight venues throughout the city.

The festival will open at Lancaster Brewery on Friday when the Lancaster Royal Grammar School Big Band will kick start the weekend before Jazz scene heavyweights, A Dread Supreme and Taupe take to the stage later.

Saturday will see performances split across two venues simultaneously for the very first time with the Sun Square Stage and The Hall hosting artists throughout the day.

There will be a special Q&A in The Hall featuring Lancaster Jazz Festival’s first ‘Artist in Residence’, Seth Bennett. He will be joined by last year’s Youth Jazz Commission artist Leo Geyer, who will then take to the stage to conduct quintet, Kymerikal.

Sun Square will open on the Saturday with a showcase of young, northern jazz musicians as part of the Jazz North Introduces scheme. This year the slot has been filled by Artephis, a quintet comprising young musicians from Manchester.

Dakhla Brass and Thunkfish will follow, with the Sun Square music being brought to a close for the day by Blind Monk Trio.

Attention will then undoubtedly turn to the headline act, Empirical, who will take to the stage in The Rake at the Dukes.

Empirical are a band not afraid to expand on the traditions of jazz, who have gone from strength to strength since their 2010 MOBO award for Best Jazz Act. Their fifth studio album is due for release this autumn.

Sunday will again see performances split between The Hall and Sun Square. The Paradise Trio, Yesa Sikyi and Tori Freestone/Alcyona Mick will perform on the outdoor stage with Grew & Watts, Cameron Vale and Word of Moth closing the festival in The Hall.

Speaking ahead of the festival, Lancaster Jazz Festival’s artistic director, Matt Robinson, said: “It’s our fifth birthday this year and we’re really proud to be able to say that we’re one of the few festivals in Europe that’s truly artist led and artist focussed.

“This year is set to be the biggest and most ambitious yet.”

For full details see www.lancasterjazz.com.