Duke Fest artistic adviser Paquito D’Rivera

It’s an exciting time for jazz lovers as this week marks the 4th installment of the annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, which begins tonight and runs through October 7 (here’s a look back at last year’s event). Though still a far cry from the well-established festivals in New Orleans or the European circuit, Duke Fest has already become the serious jazz festival for the region and has the potential to become a world class event. For the next week, many of the city’s music venues will be participating and offering dozens of outstanding performances, many of which are FREE.

A complete schedule is available here. In addition to all of the great performances, the festival offers a host of concerts and masterclasses aimed at students and aspiring artists. This festival is also unusual in that, unlike other major festivals, Duke Fest is not concentrated into a handful of centralized venues. The planners have taken an approach that spreads events across the city, mainly through the Jazz in the ‘Hoods program.

With all the outstanding events to choose from, we thought it might be helpful to offer a list of shows that piqued our interest. Here are our picks for Duke Fest 2008.

Wednesday:

Top pick:
The festival opens tonight with a gala at the Inter-American Development Bank featuring Latin jazz legend and festival artistic adviser Paquito D’Rivera. He will perform with the Turtle Island String Quartet, who recently entered the jazz world with their stunning arrangement of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Invitation only

Runner up:
If you weren’t lucky enough to get an invite to the gala, we suggest you head over to the Millennium Stage to catch jaw dropping pianist Benito Gonzalez. 6 p.m. Free.