Enormous Melbourne International Jazz Festival Program Unleashed

A mammoth program for this year's Melbourne International Jazz Festival has been unveiled this morning, with another diverse selection of some of the world's finest musicians appearing at the event from Friday 31 May through to Sunday 9 June.

Here are a few highlights:

The opening weekend will feature a huge second line party with New Orleans' finest, the Rebirth Brass Band, leading a massive march through Southbank on Saturday 1 June. That band also play their own headline show on Sunday 2 June at the Forum Theatre.

This is what we're talkin' about:

Guitar virtuoso Mike Stern will show us why he is one of the undisputed masters of fusion when he turns in sets at Melbourne Recital Centre (Tuesday 4 June), Bennetts Lane Jazz Club (Sunday 9 June) and a very special masterclass at the Wheeler Centre on Monday 3 June.

The legendary Cassandra Wilson returns to Australia for the first time in over a decade, playing Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall on Sunday 9 June, Cuban master Chucho Valdés and his Afro-Cuban Messengers plays that same venue the night before.

Some brilliant young guns in the worlds of jazz, funk and soul have been booked for the festival in 2013 as well, with Kneebody bringing their diverse urban leaning free jazz to Forum Upstairs on Sunday 2 June, the wildly experimental Thundercat hitting The Forum on Friday 7 June with Hiatus Kaiyote and New York progressive jazz outfit ERIMAJ hitting Bennetts Lane Jazz Club on both Friday 7 June and Saturday 8.

The raw funk and soul of Snarky Puppy (who have backed the likes of Erykah Badu and  will have Melbourne based, former American Alison Wedding out the front of their collective at Forum Upstairs on Saturday 1 June, while Austria's brilliant proficient and totally out there Mike Helbock Trio hit Bennetts Lane Jazz Club late on Saturday 8 June.

Melbourne Recital Centre hosts The James Carter Organ Trio on Friday 7 June with Carter on sax, Gerard Gibbs on Hammond B3 star and veteran Detroit drummer Leonard King rounding it out. Carter also plays Bennets Lane with Julien Wilson's Upright Trio the following night. The brilliant Christian McBride, whose last record featured guest appearances from D'Angelo, Queen Latifah, Sting, Carly Simon, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea, to name a few, will hit the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday 1 June with his trio.

We've not even scratched the surface of the fine acts playing – particularly the brilliant Australians – a Van Morrison tribute from Vince Jones, Joe Camilleri and Vika Bull and a big opening night that has Sarah McKenzie, Michelle Nicolle and Mahalia Barnes turning in their renditions of rock classics and pop anthems.

For full details on this amazing bill, immerse yourself in the festival's website and start making some tough decisions about who you're going to see and who you'll have to miss. It promises to be a special week.