Whether you’re after big band songs from the 1940’s, the sound of a smooth saxophone, a little jazz scatting, local students revisiting the classics, or the timeless work of a polished jazz quintet, this year’s Main Street Jazz Fest is the place to be Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3.

Grammy award-winning trumpet player Nicholas Payton headlines this year’s festival, coming to town fresh from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival the weekend before.

“Every year we try to have a big name headlining,” said Jazz Fest’s Publicity Chair, Sean Gilliland.

This year’s headliner is no stranger to the stage, or to the world of Neo-bop jazz, generally considered more accessible than more improvisationally driven jazz, reworking the classics in a more structured setting. Payton started playing trumpet at age 4, and played in his first band at 9, alongside his father, bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton. He won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Solo in 1997 and has been recording albums since the ’90s, alone and with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride and Doc Cheatham.

Payton takes the main stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and will host a free jazz clinic at 3:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts downtown.

Joining him on Saturday’s lineup are Nashville saxophonist Joe Johnson, who likes to consider himself the “Life of the Party,” local vocalist Jeff Hall, who explores fresh arrangements and jazz standards with equal tenacity, and the U.S. Army Ground Forces Jazz Guardians, 19 Atlanta-based enlistees who travel the country promoting the military.

Music begins at 11 a.m. with the Rutherford All-County High School Jazz Band, a group of the best student musicians from around the county, who will be performing a special tribute to Boots Randolph, a multitalented, genre-crossing, tour de force who the jazz community sadly lost last July at the age of 80.

“His estate has given us permission to play along with a recording of him,” said Karl Wingruber, who coordinates Friday night’s high school jazz band performances and will be leading the all-county group Saturday morning.

“It’s a really personal thing for me. I got to play with Boots Randolph and it changed my life, I was never the same again,” he said.

The all-county group will be performing “Candy,” a World War II-era hit, along with a recording Randolph recorded just last year.

“It was the song that made me want to be a musician,” Wingruber said.

The all-county group will perform additional original arrangements and time-honored classics.

Organizers expect upwards of 20,000 people to converge on the downtown area.

“It’s about to become one of the preeminent music festivals in the area,” Wingruber said of the free event. “It just keeps getting bigger every year.”

In addition to a lineup of local high school jazz bands on Friday and Saturday’s two stages, closing down with Payton and the big band Music City Swing, respectively, a full day of interactive children’s activities and numerous food vendors will be on site, with local stores extending their hours and opening their doors to locals and out-of-towners alike.

“Those 20,000 people are really giving a lot of visibility to those businesses downtown,” Gilliland said.

Kid’s Alley, according to committee member Leslie Walker, is going to be completely hands-on this year, with a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog, a Read To Succeed story time, United Way carnival games, an inflatable maze, hands-on martial arts demonstrations, a U.S. Army-funded climbing wall, Dance Dance Revolution, and a special 16-foot mural for the kids to paint.

“The Discovery Center is going to take the mural when we’re done so the kids can go and visit it again,” Walker said, assuring parents that their children will be using washable paint to color in the 16-foot jazz-themed mural.

The Main Stage Schedule?Saturday, May 3

7:30?Nicholas Payton

For more information on the festival and to view the entire schedule, visit mainstreetjazzfest.com.