This year's Montreal International Jazz Festival [ tickets ] is again proving to be an event that listeners of all stripes can enjoy.

Far from being a purist's jazz festival--at least not one along the lines of the similarly esteemed event in Monterey--the 28th edition of Montreal's signature music happening was centered around jazz, while also offering much for pop, rock, blues and world music fans.

This year's 11-day event, which continues through July 8, features such great names in jazz as Dave Holland, Roy Haynes [ tickets ], Keith Jarrett [ tickets ], Wynton Marsalis [ tickets ], Mike Stern [ tickets ] and John Scofield [ tickets ]. That's more than enough to satisfy any die-hard jazz fan--the kind of listener who is more likely to put on "Take Five" than Maroon 5.

Yet, much of the excitement swirling about the festival was for the pop acts on the bill, which included such A-listers as Bob Dylan [ tickets ], Van Morrison [ tickets ], Bela Fleck [ tickets ], Rickie Lee Jones [ tickets ], Sean Lennon, Derek Trucks, Manu Chao and the Cowboy Junkies.

Put it all together and you have one wonderful festival--a musical nirvana that ranks up there with South by Southwest, Coachella or any other major North American festival that you could mention. All told, Montreal featured some 500 concerts--including 350 free shows--and was expected to draw 250,000 spectators.

During my all-too-short time in Montreal, I saw a number of fine concerts, most of which fell in the jazz and blues realms. The best of the lot was the John Abercrombie Third Quartet's show on July 4.

The concert drew from that foursome's third album--2007's appropriately named "The Third Quartet"--as well as its two previous efforts, 2000's "Cat 'n' Mouse" and 2003's "Class Trip." The band (fronted by the legendary jazz guitarist and featuring violinist Mark Feldman, drummer Joey Baron and double-bassist Marc Johnson) made music that defied easy categorization, moving from trippy, psychedelic wanderings to earthy, skillful blues, and delighted the capacity crowd.

Earlier that same day, Nikki Yanofsky also delivered one of the festival's true highlights. Haven't heard of this child prodigy? There are a lot of people betting that you will in the very near future. This 13-year-old Canadian has vocal chops to spare and has already drawn comparisons to true immortals like Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald.

During the opener of a four-night run at the festival, it was pretty easy to understand why people are so excited about Nikki (in Canada, she's already known just by her first name) as she delivered her heartfelt Ella Fitzgerald tribute show. Backed by a sensational old-school jazz band, with a great horn section, she knocked the crowd for a loop as she poured herself into Fitzgerald standards.

For a taste of her talent, fans can grab the newly released "We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song," an all-star effort on Verve Records that features Yanofsky, as well as Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Gladys Knight and others. Nikki's own full-length album is due in September.

The festival, as usual, also hosted its share of fine blues performers. Some of the better ones that I saw included the gravelly voiced crooner Ray Bonneville and the young guitar wiz Dave Gross, both of whom performed on July 3.

Those heading out to the festival for its final weekend have much to pick from. Recommended gigs include Branford Marsalis (July 6), Dolores O'Riordan from the Cranberries (July 6), Bryan Lee (July 7) and Buddy Guy (July 7-8).

For more information, visit the festival's website.