Europe's Jazz Festivals: The Best Of Summer

The Umbrian capital of Perugia is never more glorious than on a long summer evening when its medieval streets are filled with the sound of jazz. After a day devoted to touring, swimming or an extremely long lunch, there's nothing like settling into Perugia's Arena Santa Giuliana to hear the endlessly inventive saxophonist Sonny Rollins deconstruct the melody of, say, Thelonious Monk's Crepuscule with Nellie — in just the kind of magical twilight that might have inspired it.

Monk's angular ballad could tumble out of Rollins' horn on July 17, when the star headlines the Umbria Jazz...