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

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

6 p.m.: Catherine Russell Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)

Chances are you've seen or heard New York City's Catherine Russell before. Russell, an associate professor of voice at Berklee College of Music in Boston, has lent her formidable pipes to songs and concerts by Steely Dan, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Madonna, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, and Rosanne Cash, to name a few. That's because the vocal utility in her arsenal is fortified with everything from barrelhouse bellows to sultry ballad swoon to cool torch-song come-ons. And the talent runs deep; her dad was Louis Armstrong's musical director when Satchmo moved operations to NYC in 1935. (FD)

6 p.m.: Ben Britton Band City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)

Still an undergraduate student at the Eastman School of Music, saxophonist Ben Britton is already creating a stir with his adventurous solos. He's studied with some of the best saxophonists in jazz, including Chris Potter, Rich Perry, Victor Goines, and Walt Weiskopf, and recently participated in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., where he worked with legends like Billy Taylor, Curtis Fuller, and Carmen Lundy. In addition to his own band, Britton works with Sonic Duality. (RN)

6 p.m.: Herb Smith Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

He is the third trumpet with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, but Herb Smith's range extends well beyond classical music. The Eastman School of Music professor (and ESM graduate) has played with Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, Doc Severinsen, The O'Jays and other jazz and pop acts. In addition to his work composing music for silent films, he is cofounder of Thornwood, a smooth jazz group. (RN)

6 p.m.: Supergenerous w/Cyro Baptista Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)

Supergenrous is both eclectic and natural, sublime and extreme. It is the brilliant collision of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Breit with Brazilian multi-rhythmic Cyro Baptista, and what it sounds like when the jungle meets the street. Separated, these two musicians are utterly amazing. Breit paints textures and colors with his guitar and assorted stringed things without relying on too much technology. There is some dressing and looping, but it's typically from his fingers to your ears, that's about it. Breit's tone is picturesque, but not literal --- Baptista's is. Baptista is a mad scientist who incorporates sounds of nature looped into his drum laden physical display. He is positively riveting. Both are go-to guys for artists like Paul Simon, Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, k.d. lang, Herbie Hancock, Laurie Anderson, and bands who don't want to fill in the cracks, but rather make them bigger and more akin to the humanity that eagerly laps it up. Breit and Baptista have potential to go completely nuts with this. Lets see if they do. (FD)

6:15 p.m.: Barbara Dennerlein Duo Max of Eastman Place ($20, or Club Pass)

If you close your eyes before the Barbara Dennerlein Duo takes the stage, you might find yourself searching for a bass player when you open them. In addition to her considerable chops on the Hammond B-3 keyboard, Dennerlein plays an unusually enhanced bass component by connecting her foot-pedals to a MIDI system. A protégé on the Hammond B-3 at the age of 15, Dennerlein was well-known to club-goers on the Munich jazz scene in the early 1980s. Over the past two decades she has not only become the top jazz organist in Germany, she has become one of the most celebrated world-wide. With Dennerlein will be drummer John Neumann. (RN)

6:30 p.m.:Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers High Fidelity ($20, or Club Pass)

Dwayne "Dopsie" Rubin's old man is considered the king of Zydeco. So here comes the prince. The 29-year-old Dopsie grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, surrounded by Zydeco music's spicy rattle and cry. The young man first got involved by strapping into a washboard before moving on to the accordion, where he really shines. People in the know know; Dopsie was voted "Hottest Accordion In America" in 1999 by the American Accordionists Association. (FD)

6:45 p.m.: Union Trio Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass)

7 p.m.: Joe Bonamassa East Ave/Alexander Street Stage (Free)

Jimmy Page, Rory Gallagher, Peter Green, Gary Moore... they weren't trying to reinvent,  they set out to recreate. Still, American blues in these inquisitive hands got amped up and re-tooled before getting fired back to our shores, where guitarists like Utica native Joe Bonamassa were listening. That's not unusual, except that Bonamassa was 10 when what he heard was getting tweaked and twanged even further coming from his own guitar. Bonamassa first came to Rochester at 11 when he opened for B.B. King at the now-defunct Festival Tent. He was a young, cute kid playing a guitar as big as he was. But the "isn't he so adorable" shtick that followed is long gone, replaced by genuine awe inspired by one of the premiere guitarists in the new wave of six-string monsters. His latest disc, "Sloe Gin," is full of his big tone and fluidity, and it shows off his maturity and remarkable reserve. Bonamassa doesn't always go for the throat by copping to flashy riffs, but rather treats each song accordingly, going for the heart instead. (FD)

7 p.m.: Carolyn Wonderland East Ave/Chestnut Street Stage (Free)

The Susans - that'd be Tedeschi and Foley - are at that enviable cruising altitude afforded them by talent and years of hard work. Fans of those ladies will undoubtedly fall in love with Carolyn Wonderland, a triple threat (songwriter, singer, guitar slinger) from Austin, Texas, who - in my opinion - burns even hotter than the aforementioned ladies. Wonderland is all race-, genre-, and age-defying pipes, plus bluesy guitar. Her spurs dig deep into Americana's side. She's toured with Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter (Wonderland's cover of his take on "Still Alive and Well" was all I needed to hear to know I liked her), and has sat in with The String Cheese Incident, Los Lobos, and Robert Earl Keen. This gal's gonna blow your doors off. (FD)

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

Regarded by many as the world's greatest bar band, Maryland's The Nighthawks celebrate 29 years of bustin' up dives and concert halls world-wide. The Nighthawks were blues before blues was cool, always putting the music first in their own barn-burning sets, and in legendary backing gigs with greats like Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Big Walter Horton. The band is expertly driven by frontman Mark Wenner, a cat with so many old-school tattoos that from a distance he looks like Papa Smurf howlin' and honkin' on the harp. Seeing The Nighthawks means getting involved, baby. Get up and shake it. You may get a little sweaty, a little dirty, but you'll be part of an American roadhouse tradition that will never die, so long as cats like The Nighthawks stay on the road and on the stage. (FD)

7:30 p.m.: The Sliding Hammers Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)

Here's some jazz that looks as good as it sounds. Sliding Hammers' trombones sound as long and luxurious as their legs. This gorgeous set of Swedish sisters (Karin Hammar and Mimi Pettersson Hammar) leads the group in a sort of pre-hard-bop bop. The Hammers swing with a sturdy affability, and they've got the chops to get lost, but opt to keep the rubber side down. Proficiency and style never threaten to overtake the music, as the two ladies fly apart, trade off, and come together with a beguiling depth that's almost conversational. Maybe it's those smiles, maybe it's those legs, but it's most definitely those boss trombones (FD)

8:30 p.m.: Soul Rebels Brass Band Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

If you take the spirit of Mardi Gras and add a little hip-hop and funk to spice it up, you have the Soul Rebels Brass Band. This seven-piece ensemble, straight from New Orleans, consists of a stop-on-a-dime-tight horn section, a snare drum and cymbal combo, a guitar to stir up the funk, and a bass drum and tuba for a low end that just won't quit. And did I mention the vocals to get the crowd going? This is not the band to see if you like to sit down. (RN)

8:45 p.m.: Union Trio Christ Church ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

9 p.m.: The Kentucky Headhunters East Ave/Chestnut Street Stage (Free)

The Kentucky Headhunters blasted into the mainstream in 1989 with the salute to the band's local hang, "Dumas Walker." Country radio actually had room for country music in those days. Yet these boys were perhaps a little too rock 'n' roll for country, too country for rock 'n' roll. For genuine country and genuine rock 'n' roll fans this isn't a problem; we just call it Southern rock. You can trace the band's roots back to 1968, when brothers Fred  --- he of the coolest sideburns in the world (drums) --- and Richard (guitar) Young formed The Itchy Brothers with lead guitarist Greg Martin and bassist Anthony Kenney. Constant throughout the band's nearly 40 years on stage is a guitar-driven boogie that straddles blues, country, and rock 'n' roll better than bands that hover in just one of those styles. The Kentucky Headhunters are just a good ol' barn dance band, and the barn's on fire, baby.  (FD)

9 p.m.: Medeski Martin & Wood East Ave/Alexander Street Stage (Free)

Once Jerry Garcia made good on his band's moniker, the jam band throne was up for grabs. Phish was he first super group to pull the sword out of the stone, and ex-Grateful Dead members like Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart still make the rounds. But it is Brooklyn's Medeski Martin & Wood that has become the new jam band super group. All three band members --- John Medeski (keyboards), Billy Martin (drums), and Chris Wood (Bass) --- are monsters, mixing elements of jazz freedom and rock muscle with a sense of adventure and purpose rather than standard jam band meanderings. In fact they'll be the first ones to tell you they're a jazz band. Wait until the Deadheads hear this. (FD)

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

See bio above. 

9:30 p.m.: Sliding Hammers Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above. 

10 p.m.:Soul Rebels Brass Band Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.:Supergenerous w/Cyro Baptista Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

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

See bio above.

10 p.m.: Catherine Russell Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)

See bio above.

10 p.m.: Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers High Fidelity ($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.