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The Montreal International Jazz Festival is many things to many people. For the majority, it’s simply a big outdoor summer party in the Quartier des spectacles. For the real aficionados, it’s a chance to see some great but maybe not superstar jazz acts in smaller venues like the Monument-National or Place des Arts’ Cinquième Salle.

Some of those more intimate shows were unveiled at a news conference Tuesday morning at the Maison du Festival, as fest organizers revealed the entire ticketed indoor lineup. But as usual, the largest splash was made by the announcement of the big-name acts heading to the jazz fest this summer, and there’s no shortage of marquee artists in the lineup.

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Many of the hottest draws are in the Événements Spéciaux series at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts. That series kicks off June 28 with British soul star Seal — an appropriate choice, given that he paid tribute to the old-school jazz and swing scenes on his album Standards, which came out in the fall. Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden is at the same venue June 29, performing songs from her latest long-player, These Are the Days, a collection of tracks inspired by the tough times she has gone through while dealing with her parents’ health issues.