The Monterey Jazz Festival will celebrate its 50th season with a lineup that includes Los Lobos [ tickets ] and Diana Krall [ tickets ], along with longtime participants Ornette Coleman [ tickets ] and Dave Brubeck [ tickets ].

The open-air event, set for Sept. 21-23 in Monterey, CA, features three days of performances on nine different stages spread out across more than 20 acres of the city's fairgrounds. The annual festival is the longest running jazz festival in the country, according to organizers.

Although the roster of artists for the event skews toward traditional jazz performers, a folk and blues presence runs throughout the festival's lineup, which also includes Sonny Rollins, Jim Hall, John McLaughlin, James Hunter, Terence Blanchard and Gerald Wilson playing on the event's main arena stage.

The eight other stages spread out on the festival's grounds will offer performances by artists including Kenny Barron, Mr. Hall, Rashied Ali, Cyrus Chestnut, Jacky Terrasson, and the quartet of Dave Holland, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chris Potter and Eric Harland, among others. The full list of performers can be found at the festival's website.

The Monterey Jazz Festival lists as one of its missions the funding of jazz education programs throughout the US. According to organizers, the festival and its associated activities raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, provide scholarships for promising young musicians to attend the Berklee School of Music, and feature opportunities for young artists to perform on the stages of the festival.

The 2006 edition of the festival featured Brubeck, The Yellowjackets, Oscar Peterson, Bonnie Raitt, Hank Jones, and the Charles Lloyd Quartet.