A lot of that jazz

“Our goal is, in an incremental way, to make it one of the premier festivals of the Midwest,” said Rodney Whitaker, the festival’s artistic director and MSU jazz studies chief. “We have people from all over the world calling us, wanting to be a part.”

Latin, big band, traditional, avant-garde, blues and unclassifiable happenings are all in the mix — about 14 hours of live music in all — from local, regional and national artists on two stages.

The festival is blossoming into a regional event under Whitaker, a world-renowned bassist and educator with connections to just about everyone in jazz, and with the backing of Wharton Center director Michael Brand, the MSU provost’s office and a coalition of other university entities.

“We have a very motivated board,” said Benjamin Hall, festival coordinator. “MSU’s increased involvement has the most to do with the festival expanding.”

Whitaker and Hall have pushed the festival to diversify its lineup.

“People will get here and realize they like a genre of music they didn’t even consider before,” Hall said.

“We don’t want all the same sort of music,” Whitaker agreed.

A top priority for Whitaker was to see all kinds of faces on stage.

“This is our national music,” he said. “It shouldn’t be all black folks or white folks, and women should be represented.”

Canadian trumpeter/vocalist Bria Skonberg, headlining Friday at 7:30, is the latest in a series of rising young jazz stars sponsored by a big festival partner, the Wharton Center.

Skonberg will follow up her festival gig with an appearance at the Wharton Center April 16. The festival-to-Wharton pairing has scored big already, with gigs by superstar bassist Esperanza Spalding and vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant and Cyrille Aimée.

Whitaker was impressed with Skonberg when they played together at Centrum Jazz Festival in Port Townsend, Wash.

“She plays traditional jazz, and she’s good,” Whitaker said. “Her heroes are Louis Armstrong, New Orleans musicians.”

On stage and in the classroom, Whitaker wants to make jazz more attractive to women. He hopes to get a female instrumentalist on MSU’s jazz faculty soon.

“Go to an orchestra concert and 40, 50 percent of the orchestra is female,” Whitaker said. “Go to a jazz group and they’re still 99 percent male. We’re just behind.”

Another festival highlight is Saturday’s headliner, a “guitar summit” with MSU’s Randy Napoleon, New York guitarist Dave Stryker and one of the top musicians in jazz, Peter Bernstein. Bernstein, also based in New York, came to MSU as a guest artist in March and recently did a stint with saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins.

“He’s an amazing player and a giving spirit,” Whitaker said.

For something completely different, Chicago vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz will make his East Lansing debut at the second annual Kozmic Picnik. The 1 p.m. event at the Broad Art Museum kicks off Saturday’s slate of music.

Adasiewicz’s avant-garde sound, a diffuse twinkling that sounds like dancing ants with bells around their necks, will suit the surroundings of a contemporary art museum perfectly.

At 2:30 p.m., the festival will shift to party mode as the New Orleans Swamp Donkeys leads a classic Second Line parade, complete with beads and costumes, from the Broad Museum to the festival site in downtown East Lansing.

(The Swamp Donkeys have a familiar name in the lineup: sousaphonist Wessell Anderson IV, or “Quad,” son of former MSU saxophone professor and alto saxman Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson.)

Last year’s inaugural Kozmic Picnik and parade were mobbed and turned into instant traditions. Hall said this year’s will be “even bigger and crazier,” with costumed participants from the Renaissance Festival in the mix, just for extra color. (Sing the blues, Sir Lancelot. Gratuitous anachronism is never amiss at a Kozmic Picnik.)

Festival highlights include veteran drummer Jeff “The Hammer” Hamilton and his trio (6 p.m. Saturday) and Whitaker’s ebullient current group, Soul-R-Energy (6 p.m. Friday), both on the Main Stage.

Latin music will be represented by the Afro-Caribbean ensemble Grupo Aye (9:15 p.m. Friday) and Orquesta Ritmo (9:15 p.m. Saturday), both on the Main Stage. A festival favorite, Detroit blues legend Thornetta Davis will return at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

With all that talent filling two stages, who are the sleepers?

“Check out Ari Teitel,” Whitaker said. “He’s bad.”

Teitel, a blistering guitarist and thirdyear student at MSU, is already making a mark in jazz, both as a leader and sideman. Local organist Jim Alfredson will join him 7 p.m. Friday on the MSU Educational Stage.

Whitaker also thinks people will be surprised by New Orleans vocalist Cindy Scott, appearing 7:30 p.m. Friday on the MSU Educational Stage.

Like a jazz musician absorbed in a solo, big-city jazz festivals have a way of ignoring the clock and taking a few extra choruses. East Lansing’s festival measures up in that department as well.

Last year, late-night “afterglow” performances at Peppino’s Sports Grille, headlined by saxophonist Diego Rivera and trombonist Micheal Dease, turned into wild jam sessions.

“For me, the club stuff was the highlight last year,” Whitaker said. “Both nights, all the festival guests came and sat in. That’s when it all comes together.”

This year, festival organizers aren’t even bothering to say “afterglow.”

“It’s just part of the festival,” Hall said.

Expect anyone under the sun to show up and crash gigs at Peppino’s by trumpeter Etienne Charles Friday and Organissimo Saturday.

Next year, the festival’s 20th anniversary, will be even bigger, Hall said. Whitaker is already planning a “Chicago night” with powerhouse sax player John Wojciechowski and other Windy City stalwarts such as bassist Kelly Sill, whom East Lansing audiences haven’t heard yet.

To crown all, Whitaker said he is working on his old boss from Jazz at Lincoln Center, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, to bring a quintet, if not the whole Lincoln Center band, to East Lansing.

“We’d have to get a bigger tent,” Whitaker said.