Jeannette Lambert’s Bebop for Babies, 4 p.m., Strong --- National Museum of Play

Jeannette Lambert has a simple philosophy when it comes to kids and jazz: there’s no reason for them to miss out on it. Lambert takes the songs kids already know and love --- “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Old MacDonald,” “Frère Jacques,” and many others --- and plays them in simple, catchy jazz arrangements. Her band is no Mickey Mouse outfit; it consists of real jazz players. The result is music kids love, and it won’t drive parents crazy.

For more information on Lambert or Bebop for Babies, visit http://www.bebopforbabies.com/. (RN)

Rochester Area High School Bands, 4:30 p.m. & 5:15 p.m., Jazz Street Stage

Don Byron’s Ivey Divey, 6 p.m. & 10 p.m., Kilbourn Hall

When it comes to contemporary clarinetists, Don Byron is in a class by himself. In Down Beat magazine’s critics’ polls Byron has swept his category by triple-digit margins for more than a dozen years. There’s no question that he’s a brilliant player, but what really separates him from the crowd is his wide range of interests. Since 1990 Byron’s albums have examined the work of klezmer clarinetist Mickey Katz, the frenetic compositions of Raymond Scott, John Kirby, and Duke Ellington (Bug Music); the music of saxophone great Jr. Walker (Do the Boomerang); and of course his own eclectic compositions. Ivey Divey is the title of a 2004 album exploring the bass-less trio of sax giant Lester Young. But it also contains two Miles Davis tunes and includes wonderful originals like the funky “Leopold, Leopold...” and the inside-out “Abie the Fisherman.” On Ivey Divey Byron adds bass clarinet and tenor sax to his arsenal.

For more information on Byron, visit http://www.donbyron.com/. (RN)

Eastman School of Music Jazz Trios, 6 p.m., Jazz Street Stage

Sisters Euclid, 6 p.m. & 10 p.m., Montage

Though they’re not sisters (hell, they’re not even women), you could call Sisters Euclid a kind of a Canadian alt-jazz super group (you heard me). At the front of this quartet is guitarist Kevin Breit (another alum from RIJF 2006), who can apparently play anything with strings on it, as he does routinely in Norah Jones’ band and with Supergenerous, his project with the amazing Cyro Baptista. Sisters Euclid is a whole lot more polyrhythmic and odd, with Breit and crew exorcizing demons one gets from having too many records at home and a desire to give every single influence a chance to shine. (FD)

Josh Irving Quintet, 6 p.m., Kilbourn Hall

If you prefer your jazz on the more intense, post-bop side, the Josh Irving Quintet is just the ticket. The Rochester-born saxophonist credits local trumpeter Paul Smoker for broadening his musical horizons. Once at Berklee College of Music, Irving was mentored by the great tenor, George Garzone (the featured guest on his album, A Common Thread). Irving, who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxes, is an excellent post-Coltrane player/composer, constantly walking the edge of dissonance but never falling over. His band features top New York players Alan Ferber (trombone), Mark Ferber (drums), George Dulin (keyboards), and Ike Sturm (bass, also with Rochester roots).

For more information on Irving, visit http://www.joshirvingjazz.com/. (RN)

Omar Sosa, 6:15 p.m. & 10 p.m., High Fidelity

Arranger, producer, percussionist and keyboard player extraordinaire Omar Sosa studied at Cuba’s Escuela Nacional de Musica and Instituto Superior de Arte while still in his teen years. He founded the group Tributo in his early 20s and worked with prominent vocalists and groups through the 1980s and 1990s. Over the past decade he has emerged as one of the most innovative leaders in Afro-Caribbean music, releasing a string of solo albums combining jazz, rumba, African, and even hip-hop music. In the fall of 2002 his album Sentir was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. If you go to hear Sosa don’t plan to sit down for long; this music is infectious.

For more information, visit http://www.omarsosa.com/. (RN)

Soul Rebels Brass Band, 6:30 p.m. & 10 p.m., High Fidelity

New Orleans’ Soul Rebels came up traditionally, playing parades and jazz funerals. Also keeping with tradition, The Neville Brothers frequently have the band warm up and ultimately melt the stage for their home gigs. It’s this parade mentality that sends audiences. Music is not a stationary force; it should move you, and move with you.

At the heart of The Soul Rebels is ballsy brass. It gets goosed with some R&B and some funk, yet it’s that parade drive that’ll get you movin’. Who knows, maybe the band and audience will march outta the venue and do a few laps outdoors. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

For more information on Soul Rebels visit http://www.soulrebelsbrassband.com/. (FD)

Trio Nosso, 7 p.m., East Ave/Alexander Stage

You are unlikely to find virtuoso performers more astounding than the three Brazilians who make up Trio Nosso. Guitarist Nelson Faria’s fingers can take off racing down the fret board with the speed of a gazelle. He can also play complex solos composed entirely of chords. The talents of six-string bassist Ney Conceição can be placed somewhere between the otherworldly sound of Jaco Pastorius and the slapping funk of Stanley Clarke. Whether using his sticks or his hands, drummer Kiko Freitas is a veritable percussion machine. Together these three are as tight as an ensemble can get. (RN)

Julie Stewart & The Motor Kings, 7 p.m., East Ave/Chestnut Stage

They got a B-3 up there, and usually that's all I need to see. Throw a blonde beauty beltin' bold 'n' brassy up front and you won't be able to pry me from the front of the stage. This Santa Fe quintet will remind you of that time in the early to mid-'70s when blues, rock, country, and soul all came alive and came together with the common goal to get people to get on down.

For more information on Julie Stewart and the Motor Kings visit http://www.motorkings.com/home.html. (FD)

Das Contras, 7:15 p.m. & 9:15 p.m., Jazz Street Stage

Das Contras take a little folk, a little rock, a little Latin, and a little reggae, and then kilt it. Everyone mixes it up these days, but add Scotland to the mix and eyebrows go up. We’re living in a global community where music indigenous to one region can wind up being played and mastered in another. It’s when the regions maintain their identity, customs, and parlance (to a certain extent) that things get real interesting. Latin grooves dished out by Scots. This is gonna be cool.

For more information on Das Contras visit http://www.dascontras.com/.

Andreas Pettersson Quartet, 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Reformation Lutheran Church

When guitarist Andreas Pettersson solos with his excellent quartet he is in absolute command of his instrument. Whether taking off with lightning-fast legato runs or strumming a powerful succession of chords, Pettersson’s arsenal of musical ideas appears limitless. On his recent album, Gullin onGuitar, he pays tribute to the great Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin. If you’ve never heard of him, Pettersson invites you into the parallel universe of Scandinavian jazz, where Gullin appears to have had the status of Stan Getz. His compositions are wonderful and, when played by Pettersson, pianist Daniel Karlson, bassist Hans Backenroth, and drummer Joakim Ekberg, they stack up well against American jazz standards.

For more information on Pettersson, visit http://www.andreaspettersson.com/. (RN)

Dr. John, 8 p.m., Eastman Theatre (w/Madeleine Peyroux)

Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) started out in New Orleans as a sideman playing guitar and keyboards on sessions with cats like Frankie Ford, Joe Tex, and Professor Longhair in the late ’50s. A gun mishap forced him to hang up his guitar and trouble with the law forced him to split to L.A. in the mid ’60s. John cut his first album, Gris Gris, with time left over in the studio from a Sonny & Cher session, and he stuffed it full of New Orleans R&B and a little psychedelic voodoo. Throughout his career, John has never copped safe or standard in any of his projects or collaborations. But you can always hear the boil of the Big Easy in his voice, and in the music’s eclecticity and cadence.

For more information on Dr. John visit http://www.drjohn.org/. (FD)

Madeleine Peyroux, 8 p.m., Eastman Theatre (w/Dr. John)

I think we all wanna be enchanted or romanced just a little bit. Hell, maybe even a lot. And Madeleine Peyroux’s music does just that: it’s a picturesque, sepia-toned seduction with an underlying sting waiting in its supple shadows. Her voice soars deadly delicate above a bed of her own simple jazz guitar. And yes, she sounds a helluva lot like Lady Day with her coquettish warble and gentle, languid phrasing.

Performing for years as a busker on the streets of Paris, Peyroux released Dreamland in 1996, and it catapulted her into the global spotlight. Since then she has played jazz festivals worldwide as well as Lilith Fair. It is the way that Peyroux assumes ownership of the songs she covers --- from Bessie Smith to Elliott Smith --- that makes her so compelling.

Somewhat of an eccentric, she moves in and out of the public eye with only the haunting lust and noir of her records to keep us company ’til she returns.

For more information on Peyroux, visit http://www.madeleinepeyroux.org/. (FD)

Olu Dara, 8:30 p.m., Club Pass Big Tent

Olu Dara came to New York in the 1960s and solidified his reputation as a leading avant-garde trumpet and cornet player in the 1970s and 1980s. Dara did not record as a leader until the 1990s, but by then he had lent his distinctive style to artists like David Murray, James “Blood” Ulmer, Henry Threadgill, Don Pullen, and Hamiet Bluiett. In recent decades he has recorded with singer Cassandra Wilson and recorded an album on which, in addition to his horns, he accompanied himself on guitar. (RN)

Toots & The Maytals, 9 p.m., East Ave/Alexander Stage

Sprung in 1962 from the legendary Studio One in Kingston, Jamaica, Toots & The Maytals is one of the few original reggae bands left. The band first gained island-wide praise for its blend of Jamaican rhythms with gospel singing, or “spiritual ska” as some came to call it. By 1975 the band was on Island Records and was touring the world. The band holds the record for the most No. 1 hits in Jamaica (31). Toots & The Maytals has been on-again, off-again since the early ’80s, but seems to be back in earnest this time with the latest album, True Love, sporting a list of guests like Keith Richards, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, No Doubt, and Eric Clapton.

For more information on Toots & The Maytals visit http://www.tootsandthemaytals.net/. (FD)

Maceo Parker, 9 p.m., East Ave/Chestnut Stage

As a member of James Brown’s band during the godfather’s heyday, Maceo Parker wrote the book on saxophone funk. His soulful improvisational honking was an irresistible ingredient in Brown’s funky stew. Branching out from Brown’s band, Parker continued to work his magic on dozens of albums by the Parliament/Funkadelic crew and many others, including the Dave Matthews Band, Prince, and 10,000 Maniacs.

For more information on Parker, visit http://www.maceoparker.com/. (RN)

Jazz Jam w/Bob Sneider, 10:30 p.m., State Street Bar & Grill

The crowd will grow larger and larger every night as festival-goers catch on to one of the RIJF's best treats. Starting at around 10:30 p.m., at the Crowne Plaza's State Street Bar and Grill, the superb Bob Sneider Trio hosts a rousing jam session. Sneider is a world-class jazz guitarist who has equally top-notch support from Mike Melito on drums and Phil Flanigan on bass. If that's not enough, you never know who will visit the bar and jam after a gig. George Benson, Chris Potter, and Eric Alexander are among the stars who have sat in with the band. So have a wide range of local musicians, from high school students to pros.

For more information on Bob Sneider, visit http://www.bobsneider.com/index.shtml. (RN)

For more information or to buy tickets, visit the Rochester International Jazz Festival website.