Although mass appeal is not its aim, today the festival draws 15,000 music enthusiasts and is ranked by many critics and fans as one of the top jazz events on the West Coast.

This year's festival will present 33 concerts and showcase more than 100 artists over six weeks. Highlights include an opening-night performance by New Orleans-based trumpeter Nicholas Payton on Saturday, June 23, at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, and a 2 p.m. performance at Campbell Recital Hall on Sunday, June 24, by vocalist Nancy King, who was hailed by The Oregonian for her "supple voice, a flawless ear and the instincts of a true jazz improviser." A rare West Coast appearance by saxophonist Lee Konitz will close the festival Aug. 4.

A popular series of noontime concerts will be held on the White Plaza-facing side of Tresidder Union on July 18, 20, 25, 27, and daily July 30 through Aug. 3. They are free and open to the public.

"We try to include all of the styles and genres that the great umbrella of jazz encompasses," said Jim Nadel, founder and executive director of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, which produces the festival every year. "Jazz is very broad, with very many different kinds of jazz, and we try to represent them as best we can. We are also very grounded in traditions of straight-ahead jazz, which grew out of the common practice period known as bebop."

Consequently, the festival offers a diverse menu of jazz within its framework. The mainstream jazz palate will be pleased with venerated masters of their craft, including singer King, saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Frank Wess, pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Modern innovators, such as Peter Apfelbaum, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage and Kneebody, push the genre into new territory.

Seven festival events will feature free pre-concert talks by leaders within the jazz community, including broadcasters Sonny Buxton, Alisa Clancy and Clifford Brown Jr. of KCSM and producer Orrin Keepnews, founder of the Riverside, Milestone and Landmark jazz labels.

Founded in 1972, SJW has welcomed jazz artists and enthusiasts to campus each summer. As its reputation and programs grew, attracting preeminent musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, it began presenting public concerts to encourage community appreciation and awareness of jazz. These early concerts evolved into the Stanford Jazz Festival.

The mission of the nonprofit SJW is music education, so it includes workshops where well-established performers mix with newbies. The festival also offers concerts by its Jazz Camp and Jazz Residency participants, as well as a Jazz Mentors concert showcasing its teacher-training program.

A distinctive aspect of jazz is that its legacy is communicated between the generations-one reason it's important that the "elder statesmen" of the genre, such as saxophonists Lee Konitz, Frank Wess, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath and his brother, drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, come to teach and mingle at the conference.

"It's part of the richness of the community. We will have Jimmy Heath, a great musician recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a 'jazz master,' working with children 12 through 17 years old for a week, sharing his knowledge and experience," Nadel said.

"Most of the artists performing have come here to teach. But it only makes sense to have them performing as part of their teaching. Never would you find such an extraordinary concentration of jazz artists in such a short time if the motive were purely to generate profits and revenues. They're here to help the next generation, and are quite often refreshed themselves by being part of the community."

For the general public, however, the performances are the best education. "One of the most important ways to learn the music is by listening to master jazz musicians play, so the concerts are an important part of the jazz students' experience," Nadel said. "The community gets to benefit by this extraordinary gathering of talent every summer when the campus music department becomes a little like NYC-the center of jazz on the planet."

"We have found out that the best way to learn about and appreciate jazz is in a community, and we put together and nurture a community of jazz artists, students and listeners every summer at Stanford," he added. "The interaction is very vital and exciting. It turns out there is not one correct method or approach to learning jazz."

A complete schedule of festival events is online at http://www.stanfordjazz.org.

By Cynthia Haven, Stanford Univeristy