After years of presiding over City Newspaper's Jazz Fest coverage, I'm actually joining the fray by getting out there and blogging this year's festival. I've resisted doing so in the past because, frankly, I know next to nothing about jazz music. I know I like it. I know it gets my butt wiggling. And after editing the Jazz Fest Guide for four years I can recognize all the big names and have a sense of their contributions to the art form. But I am hardly an expert on the subject, and I would never pass myself off as such.

So think of me as your Ellen DeGeneres for this year's festival. The comedian seemed like a quizzical choice to join the judging panel for this past season of "American Idol," since she has almost no experience in the music industry. But she explained that she would act as the voice of the everyman, the average American who enjoys music but doesn't necessarily know the ins and outs of the biz. I'll take a similar approach to the Jazz Fest. Let's hope it works out better than the last season of "Idol"...

I'll be starting my festival tonight by checking out the Lynne Arriale Trio (Xerox Auditorium, 6:30 & 9 p.m.), which interprets both jazz standards and contemporary pop. After that I'll hit up the Stan Tracey Trio at Christ Church (6:45 & 8:45 p.m.) to check out the "godfather of British jazz," and pray that I don't write something that will offend him so much that I'll wake up tomorrow morning with a horse head in my bed.

I'll also be roaming around the East End posting bulletins to our exclusive Jazz Fest Twitter account, citynewsjazz. If you have a review of a show, or a comment you'd like to share with City's audience, follow us and pass it on!