There are cities in the world with bigger jazz festivals than the ones held in New York (such as Montreal, Umbria, and North Sea), but it’s a sure bet that no other municipality in the world can boast three major jazz happenings within 30 days of one another: the JVC Jazz Festival, the Vision Festival, and Jazz in July.

The festival season formally starts Sunday, June 19, with Sonny Fortune uptown at the Schomburg for JVC and the Vision Fest Film show downtown. But two weeks before that, the most potentially awe-inspiring all-star concert of the season will be mounted on June 8 at Carnegie Hall: a salute to 82-year-old piano titan Oscar Peterson, featuring so many big names (including Hank Jones, Clark Terry, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and almost too many others) that one wonders how they’ll all get to play. Most important, we’re also promised an appearance by the man of the hour himself.

The annual JVC series remains the flagship event in the jazz world, not just here in the city, but internationally. Where other festivals generally present headliners playing their regular working books, JVC organizes special concerts around a specific theme, often a tribute to an iconic jazz figure. This year’s slate will include four birthday celebrations, revolving around the 70th birthdays of Ron Carter (June 27, Carnegie Hall) and Nancy Wilson (the climactic event of the series, on June 29, at Carnegie) and the 80ths of Lee Konitz (June 25, Zankel Hall), who is also appearing at Birdland the week before, and Eartha Kitt (June 25, Carnegie). Alas, both octogenarian celebrations are scheduled for the same night, but since they’ll be in different rooms of Carnegie, it may be possible to catch some of each.

There are also are concerts at the Kaye Playhouse built around two grand dames of the jazz world who make the others look like youngsters: Pheobe Jacobs, who runs the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (June 24), and the pianist Marian McPartland (June 19). The latter is in honor of the centennial of Ms. McPartland’s husband, the outstanding traditional jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland.

There are two other worthy posthumous celebrations of legendary figures: another irascible, brilliant trumpeter, Ruby Braff (June 20, Kaye), and the pioneering orchestrator, composer, and multiinstrumentalist, Benny Carter (June 26, Zankel).

Outside of the tribute and theme shows, there are plenty of showcases for contemporary stars with working bands: Keith Jarrett will play the latest of his ongoing recitals at big Carnegie (June 21); two tenor saxists, Joshua Redman and Branford Marsalis, will invade Town Hall (June 20); and a pair of pianists, Kenny Barron and Elaine Elias, will play the Allen Room (June 24). The only mystery is why more events aren’t being staged at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, where the sound is much better for jazz than that of the main room at Carnegie.

Throughout the first week of JVC’s 13-day run, the festival will share the city with the 12th annual Vision Festival (held June 19–24 in a former synagogue, the Angel Orensatz Foundation, on Norfolk Street), which offers the cutting-edge, the experimental, and the avant-garde, as well as an annual celebration of a living legend. This year it’s the eternally far-out trumpeter Bill Dixon; along with Mr. Dixon, I’m looking forward to experiencing two other visionaries from the early years of free jazz: the saxist Prince Lasha and the poet and sage Jayne Cortez. Among the other luminaries of contemporary music appearing are saxophonist Tim Berne, bassist and bandleader William Parker, guitarist Marc Ribot, trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., and the rarely-heard Ganelin Trio from Russia. Dozens of musicians will appear in every combination, from unaccompanied solos to full-size big bands, including two new long-form presentations by Messrs. Dixon and Parker.

A month later, the pianist Bill Charlap will serve as the guiding force behind the Jazz in July series at the 92nd Street Y. The focus of this event has been somewhat modernized since Mr. Charlap took over in 2005, but it still covers a wide range of styles in a familiar pattern: a night built around a composer (Cole Porter, July 18), a night of exotica (Grammy-winning salsaros Eddie Palmieri and Brian Lynch, July 26), an homage to two jazz icons (Bird & Diz: Bebop Today, July 19), a piano-centric jam session (July 27), and two nights that honor living legends (James Moody on July 17 and Phil Woods on July 24). Mr. Woods’s show promises to be the most essential of the six: Here’s a rare chance to hear the NEA Jazz Master with a nine-piece ensemble playing the music of Quincy Jones and the late, brilliant, Oliver Nelson.

Even during festival season, not all the best jazz is found in concert halls — the clubs are roaring as well. June begins with extended, twoweek residencies by two outstanding pianists with special ensembles: At Dizzy’s, Eric Reed will lead two different groups — a quartet called “West Coast Jazz” featuring the alto saxist Jeff Clayton, then a quintet called “Tenor Madness,” with two such saxists, Stacy Dillard and Seamus Blake. At the same time, the Village Vanguard will host a twoweek stay by the Argentina-born, Barcelona-based pianist-composer Guillermo Klein, leading “Los Gauchos,” a 10-piece band of North and South American players.

If pianists are the highlights in early June, the most eagerly anticipated club shows later in the month are a pair of saxophonic gigs at Birdland: David Murray brings his Black Saint Quartet, one of the great jazz groups of our time — with Ray Drummond on bass, Andrew Cyrille on drums, and Lafayette Gilchrist on piano — to West 44th Street on June 13. Then, beginning on June 26, Birdland will salute its namesake with a recreation of the classic Charlie Parker with strings sessions, spotlighting Italian alto phenom Francesco Cafiso with a full chamber orchestra.

Finally, at the end of the month, the heavyweight pianists are back, and they don’t get any heavier than McCoy Tyner, who will play with two very different special guests — harmonica king Toots Thielemans and tenor sax guru Joe Lovano at the Blue Note (starting June 19), and Hank Jones with his trio at Birdland, starting on July 4. I just hope Mr. Jones is willing to honor my request for “Stars and Stripes Forever” as a jazz piano feature.