A SOUTH African township band are flying high as they launch the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival.

The group from Cape Town will be taking part in the event, which begins on Friday, but took time out from their schedule to practise their noisy routines above the city inside the festival wheel.

The band will be leading workshops prior to Carnival day, then inviting participants to play alongside them in the mardi-gra parade which will see the Grassmarket turned into a colourful mini-New Orleans on Saturday.

The festival, which runs until July 27, is the biggest event of its kind in Britain, attracting some of the world's finest jazz and blues talent.

The packed schedule includes more than 140 gigs at 13 venues.

Picture: Gordon Terris