Johannesburg — THE first press announcement of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival for the coming year is usually not its most dramatic. That's the publicity strategy. First peek gives us about half the bill, and concentrates on familiar names. Subsequent announcements add the spice of unknowns, with a couple of major blockbusters always saved for last.

So what was most surprising about the first announcement of the bill issued last week was not the names -- of them, more later -- but the logistical changes. Several critics last year (myself included) worried that the festival's success would be its undoing; with nearly 16000-plus attendees each night creating an intermittent nightmare of clogged corridors and consequent missed shows reminiscent of the bad old days when the eight-year-old event was first housed at the Good Hope Centre. Since the Cape Town International Conference Centre is the city's largest venue, to where could the event grow?

The answer is a dome, purpose-built outside the nearby Cullinan Hotel. And, sensibly, the acts to be relocated there will be the noisier club music performers, who attract huge crowds and sometimes create intrusive sound leakage in the conference centre. Into their old home, the Bassline hall, will be transferred the Moses Molelekwa venue acts, previously housed in the conference centre's smallest theatre. This was originally designated as home for unusual and eclectic music. But interest in niched sounds has grown apace , and acts such as Diego Amador, Bheki Khoza and Omar Sosa in previous years disappointed many by having to put up the "house full" signs.

It's to be hoped the gains won't involve too many losses; such music sometimes works best in an intimate atmosphere, and it will take very skilful sound engineering to counteract the cavernous acoustics of the former Bassline.

The expansion of venues is part of a longer-term strategy to grow the jazz festival into a 10-day event in 2010. For next year, the jazz offerings are already strong. Leading the line-up is pianist Kenny Barron, master of graceful, classic improvisation, with a trio including bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and a Joe Lovano graduate, drummer Francisco Mela.

An equally strong stylist is drummer Peter Erskine. Perhaps most widely known as sticks man for Weather Report, Erskine has in fact appeared on more than 400 recordings, with 12 as leader, including extensive work for ECM (History of the Drum) and now with his own label, Fuzzy Music. For this show, Erskine will work with Swedish reed player Lennart Aberg, with whom he has recorded two albums. Aberg famously collaborated with trumpeter Don Cherry in the 1970s, worked onstage in Sweden with South African pocket-trumpet player Mongezi Feza, and only last year played the Istanbul jazz festival alongside Turkish master drummer Okay Temiz. The Aberg/Erskine set is likely to be the festival highlight for audiences seeking the fresh and unexpected.

Two distinctive modern jazz singers will feature: US Grammy nominee Tierney Sutton, and South African Tutu Puoane with her European-based quartet. But more historic song styling will also be heard, as Basil and Cliffie Moses's legendary Cape Town group Four Sounds will showcase Zelda Benjamin and Phyllis Madikwa, vocal darlings of an earlier era. This is part of the festival's regular homage to musical heritage in all genres. Gavin Minter's Friends of the Mother City Jazz Orchestra will feature Winston Mankunku Ngozi alongside younger generation players such as Standard Bank Young Artist award-winner Mark Fransman. And another veteran Cape vocalist, Leslie Klein-Smith, will lead his own band. From Gauteng, the Soul Brothers will recall the heyday of mbaqanga, while from the US the Manhattans will do the same for 1970s soul.

For smooth jazz fans, the line-up so far includes Gerald Albright, Hiromi and Najee (who featured on Cape-based saxophonist Moreira Chonguiça's debut album); the only World Music name so far announced is the perennial -- but always worth hearing -- Oliver Mtukudzi.

So far, so good: the programme clearly needs strengthening on the World and experimental fronts -- but there are 20-plus names still to come.