Vic Vogel is more than just a bold and engaging jazz musician, trombonist, pianist, arranger, composer, and leader.

Hipster, charmer and raconteur par excellence, Vogel is one of those Montrealers from various cultural streams who helped define the music scene that defines the city.

Propelled by his trademark high-intensity Vogelesque energy, Vogel is the only musician to have been a headliner at nearly every Montreal International Jazz Festival since its inception in 1980, which he closed with his 17-member big band. This year he’s leading a sextet on June 28 at 8 p.m. at Théâtre Jean Duceppe, part of the Jazz Beat series.

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The 20th edition of the Montreal Fringe Festival runs till June 20. With more than 100 productions, it can be daunting to plan your Fringe. Alphabetically, here’s a baker’s dozen we feel will be particularly rewarding.

Afternoon Tea With Jane Austen. It is universally acknowledged that an author in possession of an admired output must be in want of a dramatic one-woman biographical show. Jane, as embodied by Tali Brady, returns to create a “funny, touching portrait of one of the most influential literary minds of the 19th century.”

Archy and Mehitabel. I love the wry, soulful writings of Don Marquis, whose studio was inhabited by Archy, a cockroach, the reincarnation of a verse-libre poet and the toujours gai alleycat Mehitabel, the reincarnation of Cleopatra. Archy wrote only in lower case, as he had to plummet from key to key to help write Marquis’s 27 books. If you have never seen the Broadway version with Carol Channing and Eddie Bracken, the Eartha Kitt version, or heard the CBC radio version, don’t miss this show with Jeff Culbert.

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