Beginning on Thursday evening and running throughout the holiday weekend until Monday afternoon, the 2008 programme is packed with no fewer than 19 different artists from far and wide and is expected to attract thousands of traditional jazz fans from throughout Britain and beyond.

The 2008 programme includes the customary sprinkling of top names from the world of traditional New Orleans jazz music, including:

The Deep River Quartet, a powerful vocal four-piece from the Netherlands, backed by a superb band, who specialise in spirituals, gospels, moving jazz traditionals, fast rhythm & blues and blistering soul;

Jazzin' Babies, who were formed in Oslo in 2003 specifically to play classic 'hot' jazz from 1920s New Orleans and Chicago and have wasted no time in making a big impact on the European jazz scene;

The Juggets Jazz and Marching Band, a very popular 11-piece traditional marching band who have appeared at many festivals throughout Europe over the years and who never take long to establish a great rapport with their audiences;

The Laurie Holloway Trio, led by Laurie himself, whose career highlights include his position as musical director for Michael Parkinson's TV chat shows and for Strictly Come Dancing, and who now has a holiday home on Bute;

The Guinness All Stars, a dynamic swinging band of top-class professional musicians, based in Ireland, whose programme combines polished Dixieland with neat arrangements, vocals and inspiring solos;

Phil Mason's New Orleans All-Stars, fronted by festival director Phil Mason and still considered by many to be Europe's top traditional jazz band after many years on the circuit, and once again boasting the captivating vocals of Christine Tyrrell;

The Daniel Smith Blues Band, led, not surprisingly, by Daniel Smith, who has been described as "a serious challenger to Jools Holland as the UK's number one boogie pianist", and whose albums and numerous BBC radio performances have earned him three successive nominations as the Best UK Blues Keyboardist;

Ken Mathieson's Classic Jazz Orchestra, who aim to explore the fabulously varied jazz back catalogue in, as Lord Reith might have put it, an informative and entertaining way, and are considered the world's leading interpreters of the music of 'Jelly Roll' Morton;

The Alex Yellowlees Hot Club Quartet, led by a man considered to be one of the world's very best jazz violinists, who performs regularly with some of the jazz world's top musicians and is internationally renowned for his sincerity and skill;

Allan Glen, a talented young saxophonist with an impressive pedigree who studied at the prestigious Berklee's College of Music in the USA and brings his own quartet to Bute for this weekend's festival;

Bobby Wishart, a frequent and well known visitor to the Bute festival and mentor of Allan Glen (above), who combines a busy concert programme - most recently with 'The King of Scat', Freddy King, at a New Year gig in Edinburgh - with a leading role in educating the new generation of Scottish jazz musicians;

The George Penman Jazzmen, performers at every single Bute Jazz Festival since 1988, and probably still the best known of all Scotland's traditional jazz bands, 49 years after their formation;

Kit Carey's Jazzband, another Scottish band with a large following whose line-up includes some very well known names on the domestic jazz scene, not least Kit himself, who still tours Europe every year with the Sydney Zenith Jazz Band from Australia.

Mike Whellans, Scotland's only one man blues band and a long time fixture on the international circuit, whose astounding guitar picking and harmonica playing earned him a rousing reception at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005;

Academy Swing, the talented young swing band of Rothesay Academy, whose round of engagements gets busier every year as word of the band's abilities is spread increasingly widely, and who will feature some vocal solo pieces this year for the first time.

If you're planning a visit to Bute to enjoy any or all of this year's festival, tickets, merchandise and full details of who is playing where and when are available from the official Isle of Bute Jazz Festival ticket office in Rothesay's Guildford Square.