2:30 p.m.: Dixieland Cruise Mary Jemison Riverboat (Free)

4 p.m.: Dixieland Cruise Mary Jemison Riverboat (Free)

4:30 p.m.: Rochester Area High School Jazz Bands City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

5:15 p.m.: Rochester Area High School Jazz Bands City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

5:30 p.m.: Dave Samuels Caribbean Jazz Project Harro East Ballroom ($20, or Club Pass)

A master of vibraphone and marimba, Dave Samuels has been involved in many different bands since attending Berklee College of Music in the early 1970's. He's worked with Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Gerry Mulligan, and Frank Zappa, and was a member of Spyro Gyra. But he seems to have hit his stride when he formed the Caribbean Jazz Project in 1993. True to its name, the group's latest album, Afro Bop Alliance, offers tropical takes on bop standards like "Soul Sauce," "Stolen Moments," and "Bemsha Swing," along with some terrific originals by Samuels. If it can be said that an instrument can take you on a journey to an exotic location, Dave Samuels' marimba is just the ticket. (RN)

6 p.m.: Blue Vipers of Brooklyn Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

Blue Vipers of Brooklyn prove that Dixieland ain't just in Dixieland. It rattles and caterwauls in the big boroughs and Tin Pan Alleys, too. Much like the whack we all get from Austin's Asylum Street Spankers, this NYC quintet swings ragged and loose. However, it's a tad more trad, and more focused on standards and standard themes - love, the moon, June, spoon, etc. - than the Spankers' acerbic satire and Beat aesthetic. It's the pep-in-the-step guitar chops and rhythm-driven fun - it practically sounds stolen from The Three Stooges' foley stage - that get the ball rolling. Several residencies in and around the Big Granny Smith as well as frequent performances in Central Park have folks vying for the Vipers. Now it's your turn. (FD)

6 p.m.: Robin McKelle Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)

You can hear a little Ella ringing from this red-headed belle. And it isn't just because vocalist Robin McKelle drinks from the same well; it's in her tone and phrasing as well. It's warm and sweet but, it's got stones. McKelle's big band sound --- produced by Brian Setzer's trumpeter/arranger Willie Murillo --- is full of classic wartime exuberance. (America needed music bad back then; come to think of it, it still does.) Currently living in Boston, McKelle grew up in Rochester. She attended Berklee School of Music and has shared the stage with heavyweights like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Terrence Blanchard. She entered the Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz competition in 2004, where she took third place. The list goes on and on, but you've really just got to hear this young lady sing. Sophisticated, sexy, and swingin. (FD)

6 p.m.: The Bad Plus Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)

Next time you hear someone say that jazz needs to find ways of attracting young people if it's to continue as a viable commercial form, there is a two-word answer: Bad Plus. This isn't your grandfather's bebop band. These are three young musicians - Reid Anderson, bass, Ethan Iverson, piano and David King, drums - with great chops and an uncanny ability to attract a whole new audience to the music. They can write excellent originals ("Layin' A Strip For The Higher-Self State Line"), but even more fascinating is their choice of covers, including David Bowie's "Life On Mars," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and Blondie's "Heart Of Glass." It's clear at their performances that they are having at least as good a time as the audience. You'd better get there early; this one's guaranteed to sell out. (RN)

6 p.m.: Denis Parker & Scott Goudie's Rowdy Blues City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

The dusty trail led Robert Johnson associate Johnny Shines to Vancouver back in the early 1970's. It was there that he met - and took shine to --- a young Newfoundland visual artist/guitarist named Scott Goudie. Goudie was so enamored, he followed Shines back to Alabama to learn from the old man. Along the way he managed to run into and play with John Hammond, Jr., Muddy Waters, and the Iceman, Albert Collins. Back in St. John, Goudie hooked up with guitarist Denis Parker and the pair began performing as Rowdy Blues. Rowdy Blues sticks to the acoustic side of the blues, with Piedmont swagger and a Delta swamp stomp. (FD)

6:15 p.m.: Trio East Max of Eastman Place ($20, or Club Pass)

On the album "Stop-Start," Trio East offers a haunting arrangement of Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes," an adventurous treatment of Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma," and an exuberant rendition of Lee Morgan's title tune. What's most remarkable is that trumpeter Clay Jenkins, bassist Jeff Campbell, and drummer Rich Thompson accomplish this in one of the most difficult combinations of musicians: the piano-less trio. With no chords to serve as an anchor, many musicians would lose the essence of the tunes. But all three of these Eastman School of Music professors are more than up to the task. Jenkins played in the bands of Stan Kenton, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Count Basie. Thompson has shared the stage with Tito Puente and Joe Pass. Campbell has worked with Marian McPartland and Gene Bertoncini. (RN)

6:30 p.m.: Stephanie McKay High Fidelity ($20, or Club Pass)

Talib Kweli knows. Mos Def knows; so does Tricky. And once you see nouveau soul sensation Stephanie McKay, you're going to know, too. This Bronx beauty is it, baby; raw classic soul hooked up, juiced up, tweaked up with contemporary r&b polish. With heartbreak and romance hanging with a militant Motown stance, her music is inspirational, intoxicating, and irresistible. This is where soul should he been headed in the first place before it got hijacked. This is where hip-hop should he been headed in the first place before it got hijacked Thankfully Stephanie McKay has us back on track. Passion, attitude, and saavy is back. (FD)

6:45 p.m.: Kris Davis Quartet Christ Church ($20, or Club Pass)

Pianist Kris Davis is among the most adventurous performers you are likely to encounter at the RIJF. Her music can range from the minimalist beauty of repeated cluster chords to Cecil Taylor-style dissonance. Because there is always an element of free jazz improvisation in Davis' music, it is crucial that her bandmates are equally adept at rising to the challenge. Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Jeff Davis do not disappoint, reading Davis (and each other) with near-telepathic accuracy. Born in Calgary, Canada, and now based in New York City, Davis has performed with John Hollenbeck, Chris Speed, Peter Herbert, and others. (RN)

7 p.m.: Downchild Blues Band East Ave & Chestnut Street Stage (Free)

Donnie "Mr. Downchild" Walsh brought the blues to the Blues Brothers. That's right, Jake and Elwood were conceived when Dan Aykroyd and his Second City homeboys caught Downchild Blues Band at one of the band's residencies in downtown Toronto. Whereas a lot of blues had been co-opted and polished, Downchild --- its name taken from a Sonny Boy Williamson tune --- sticks closer to the bone by dialing up doses of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and the king of that salacious slow drag and shuffle, Jimmy Reed. Downchild's slide guitar work screams Elmore, and as far as the tin sandwich... well, Little Walter and Sonny Boy are smiling too. Over the band's nearly 40 years of playing the blues, it has accumulated more awards than it has shelf space to accommodate. There ain't a blues festival in Canada these cats don't dominate. Downchild plays in the spirit of second generation slicksters like Roomful of Blues and Little Charlie and the Nightcats, but it leaves the edges on. It's the blues, rare and well done; sizzling on the surface but still bloody on the inside. Deeee-licious. (FD)

7:15 p.m.: The Buddhahood City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

The Buddhahood has bounded around Rochester beating the drum - lots of 'em, actually - in a non-stop polyrhythmic spree for the past 10 years. Live, the band is all-encompassing, all-consuming, primal in the extreme. Whether it's playing reggae, mambo, samba, meringue, Caribbean, or jazz, there is simply no resisting this throbbing world beat extravaganza; it's seductive and intoxicating. The band is known for frequently breaking the imaginary dam at the edge of the stage, spilling over into the audience in a procession of shimmy-inducing drums. Buddhahood shows in the past have come just a couple shades shy of a full-blown free for all. This band is poly-everything. (FD)

7:15 p.m.: Dave Samuels Caribbean Jazz Project Harro East Ballroom ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

7:30 p.m.: Ola Kvernberg Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)

Violinist Ola Kvernberg is capable of playing polite, Stéphane Grappelli-style swing. His first consequential gig was, ironically, with a band called the Hot Club de Norvège. But when he's provoked by another musician's wild solo, watch out. He can become more possessed than Paganini, with his left hand sliding up and down the neck of his fiddle with seeming abandon. Of course, to pull this off it takes a tremendous amount of expertise. That's where his training at the Music Conservatory of Trondheim came in. Since graduating, Kvernberg has played with a baroque/contemporary orchestra, the Scarlatti Ensemble, and a bluegrass/Norwegian folk trio. With him in the trio at the RIJF are Steinar Raknes (bass) and Erik Nylander (drums). (RN)

8 p.m.: Dee Dee Bridgewater "A Malian Journey" w/Richard Bona Band Eastman Theatre ($27.50-$50)

Dee Dee Bridgewater started her professional career in the 1970's, singing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and appearing in "The Wiz" on Broadway. Three decades and 15 albums later, Bridgewater has reached the pinnacle of her career with her latest album, "Red Earth," and her current tour, "A Malian Journey." The album is a collaboration between Bridgewater and the great African musicians she worked with when she traveled to Mali to revisit her African roots. At the RIJF, she will be accompanied by her trio and seven Malian musicians. As Bridgewater and company did so beautifully on the album, the group will play both African music and American jazz. (RN)

8:30 p.m.: Saturday Night Fish Fry Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

Louis Jordan's hysterical ode to the speakeasy, "Saturday Night Fish Fry" is one of the coolest jump blues tunes ever. In this case it's a jump from the coffee house to the barrelhouse, with Canadian blues-based outfit Saturday Night Fish Fry giving the works of Bob Dylan a roadhouse twist on its latest CD, "Dirt Road Blues." Dylan has always hovered blue, with a bit of that rough 'n' tumble/honky tonk chicken wire feel, but no one has ever really fleshed it out. Led by singer-keyboardist Bill King, this band also raids the Stax stable and cuts up on two Eddie Hinton tracks as well. This concept isn't as weird as you might think; in fact, it makes perfect sense. Have you ever listened to "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat"? (FD)

8:45 p.m.: Kris Davis Quartet Christ Church ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

9 p.m.: Cross Canadian Ragweed East Ave & Chestnut Street Stage (Free)

It was about time we got ourselves a new CCR. Cross Canadian Ragweed plays countrified roots rock as big as the band's current home base of Texas, and as comfortable as an old pair of Levi's with the knees blown out. Formed in 1994 in Yukon, Oklahoma, the band's name isn't a reference to the land o' hockey, but is a mash-up of the members' last names. The mash doesn't end there, as the band plays Southern rock with vintage twang and a fresh alt-country back beat that seem to get along just fine. The band knows how to open up balls-out as well, letting go amidst the trademark mid-tempo heartbreakers. CCR hits the highway performing 200-plus dates a year, including dates with fellow Mary Jane fan Willie Nelson every now and again. This is what American country used to - and wished it still could - sound like. (FD)

9:15 p.m.: The Buddhahood City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

See bio above.

9:30 p.m.: Ola Kvernberg Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.: Robin McKelle Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above

10 p.m.: Trio East Max of Eastman Place ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.: The Bad Plus Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.: Stephanie McKay High Fidelity ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.: Saturday Night Fish Fry Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10:30 p.m.: Jazz Session w/Bob Sneider Rochester Plaza Hotel (Free)

You'd better arrive early if you want any chance at a seat at the Bob Sneider Trio's exceedingly popular jam session, held every night at Crowne Plaza's State Street Bar and Grill. Starting at around 10:30 p.m. and getting hotter as the night progresses, the session attracts some of the festival's finest musicians for after-hours jams. Sneider is a world-class jazz guitarist who has superb support from Mike Melito on drums and Phil Flanigan on bass. You never know who will show up. Wynton Marsalis played for an hour after his concert last year. George Benson, Chris Potter, and Eric Alexander are among the many other stars who have sat in with the band. (RN)

For more information, and to order tickets, visit the RIJF website.