When the nominations for this year’s Mercury Prize come around later in the summer you can be sure that one of the most serious contenders is the incendiary post-jazz group trioVD.

Debuting last year with Fill it Up With Ghosts the trio – Chris Sharkey guitar, Christophe de Bézenac saxophone, effects, voice and Chris Bussey drums – were the talk of the European Jazz Network showcase in Glasgow in the autumn and quickly became a fixture on the line-ups of forward thinking jazz fests up and down the country.

As likely to appeal to rock fans as well as jazz fans with their pulsating energy- laden attack and gritty guitar and sax-led hooks trioVD play the Cheltenham Jazz Festival tonight at 10pm in the Pillar Room of the Town Hall in Cheltenham and quickly hotfoot it back to London for a Mayday gig tomorrow at the Garage in Islington. – Stephen Graham

For Cheltenham tickets go to www.cheltenhamfestivals.com and for the Garage gig go to bit.ly/bZ6QiJ