Up to 40,000 people are expected to jive their way through the 40th Guinness Cork Jazz Festival this bank holiday weekend, with free open-air gigs, a jazz parade, and an open top jazz bus among the highlights.

Music promoter Peter Aiken, whose Live at the Marquee gigs have entertained more than 500,000 people in Cork’s docklands over the last decade, has promised to rock Leeside again next year, as well as releasing an album of the decade’s highlights.

UPBEAT hoteliers in Cork say rooms across the city are on course to sell out for the Jazz weekend, with numbers up on last year.