The name may be new - it's now called the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival - but as always, the RIJF offers plenty of bang for your buck. The 2009 edition will run June 12-20, and feature more than 100 artists and groups converging on Rochester for nine days of world-class jazz and its assorted musical fringes.

Big names like Smokey Robinson, Robert Randolph, Joe Lovano, Taj Mahal, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds are coming. Returning champs include Dave Brubeck, Bill Frisell, and Billy Bang. Last year's mega-draw, ukulele madman Jake Shimabukuro, will return to play a low-dough show at the Eastman Theatre. The blues will be represented by Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater and two of its reigning queens, Susan Tedeschi and Carolyn Wonderland. And don't miss some left-turn artists like Buckwheat Zydeco.

There will be big band gypsy jazz with Stephane Wrembel, western swing with Hot Club of Cowtown, New Orleans horn jazz courtesy of Bonerama, and my personal favorite, jazz singer Holly Cole.

Changes this year include a new venue, Xerox Auditorium, and the removal of the now-defunct High Fidelity. A new "Made in the UK" series will feature British artists at Christ Church, not unlike the successful Nordic Jazz Now series based in the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.

Club Passes are now on sale at the festival's website, or via Ticketmaster, and cost $135, plus a $4 service charge. Tickets to individual Eastman headliner shows will go on sale in April. For a full line-up, schedule, and complete artist bios, check out City Newspaper's Jazz Fest coverage.