Shepp, who recorded with Coltrane and was described by the festival's artistic director Pedro Costa as one of the most expressive saxophonists in jazz history, will be joined on the main stage of the Cankarjev dom arts centre by legendary bassist Reggie Workman, who also performed with Coltrane.

John Scheinfeld's Coltrane documentary Chasing Trane will meanwhile be screened as part of the accompanying programme of the festival.

This year's festival will feature 22 concerts, of which seven will be free open-air concerts in the park in front of Cankarjev dom, which were a smashing hit last year.

A number of events, including an exhibition of posters of the Skopje Jazz Festival in the gallery hall of the NLB bank, the festival's main sponsor, will be held throughout June as a prelude to the festival.

The festival will open with a concert by Egyptian-Lebanese-Turkish band Karkhana, followed by Hungarian saxophonist Akosh Szelevenyi's band Akosh S. Unit and a piano concert by Kris Davis and Craig Taborn.

Another highlight of the festival will be a concert by Lucia Cadotsch, who has been declared German jazz vocalist of the year and whose solo debut Speak Low has achieved great critical acclaim.

Jazz fans in Ljubljana will once again get a chance to hear Chicago cornetist Rob Mazurek, who is known for his combination of electronic music and trumpet outbursts.

The festival will also feature several Slovenian jazz musicians and international bands, such as Artbeaters, Container Doxa and Velkro.

The penultimate day of the festival will be dedicated to women jazz musicians. The morning will offer singing workshops with Emilia Martensson and in the afternoon jazz fans will get to hear the young international band Hearth with Kaja Draksler on the piano and a solo appearance of Susanna Risberg on the electrical guitar.

British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings will close the festival with his project The Ancestors.