If Mobile’s annual Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival was just one night of poetry and three nights of music, it’d be a good time.

But by the time the public entertainment starts on Thursday, July 24, some participants will already have spent two weeks living up to the “heritage” part of the name. That was evident one day last week at the History Museum of Mobile, when Andrew Ayers and others conducted a session of the Marcus Johnson Summer Jazz Camp, a program named for a founder of the Bay City Brass Band who died in 2014 at 43.

Ayers was leading an ensemble of about two dozen middle- and high-school-age participants. Four days in, they were learning to take turns improvising solos as the group vamped through verses and choruses. “Everybody say less is more,” Ayers said, after one ragged but promising session.

The program promises “celebrity guest artists.” One of those on hand wasn’t acting like a celebrity: Ted Keeby, a bandleader and stalwart of the Mobile scene, was sitting in the back row in shorts and a T-shirt, playing bass and giving pointers to the student next to him. That student happened to be his grandson, Nate Keeby, playing a keyboard bigger than he was.

Generational exchange and deep local roots are a given with this festival. The Marcus Johnson Jazz Camp Orchestra will perform at a July 25 gala that also will feature Andrew Ayers & Friends.

Festival founder Creola Ruffin said the same night’s program also would feature a special appearance by Mobile natives, Williamson High School graduates and lifetime educators Willie Lee Hill and Fred Irby III. Hill’s resume includes a lengthy tenure as leader of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Irby recently retired after spearheading jazz education at Howard University for 51 years.

The two will be honored with the Hosea London Jazz Education Award. “They are so happy to be coming home,” Ruffin said.

That’ll be followed the next night by a chance to see the genre-melding, guitar-driven music of Mobile-area act Roman Street and a Mobile Big Band performance featuring an all-too-rare guest appearance by Fred Fred Wesley Jr. Wesley is a trombonist and arranger from Mobile whose credits include extensive work with James Brown and funk pioneer George Clinton. His memoir “Hit Me, Fred” includes a wonderful account of the musical education he got from an older generation of Mobile jazz players before his first professional job put him on the road with Ike & Tina Turner.

A third night of music will feature both the Excelsior Band and the Jukebox Brass Band, among other acts, exploring another side of Mobile musical tradition.

Festival founders established their credo long ago, saying the event was created “in the belief that ‘ethnic’ means everybody and ‘heritage’ is not some fixed point in the past.”

Our purpose is still the same,” said Ruffin. “Keeping jazz alive for future generations. In saying that, we are so happy this year that we have some of Mobile’s legendary musicians that are coming in. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

“Just to be able to get them all in one place at one time, we were just blessed to be able to do that,” she said of Irby, Hill and Wesley. “That’s the most joyous thing about this particular festival.”

The schedule of events:

Thursday, July 24, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. – The festival traditionally kicks off with “An Evening of Poetry,” a spoken-word event that tends to be full of surprises. This year’s event takes place at the Historic Avenue Cultural Center, 564 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Huggy Bear Da Poet will serve as host. Admission is $10. Advance tickets are available through Eventbrite.com.

Friday, July 25, 7 p.m. – The annual Hosea London Jazz Music and Education Award Gala will be held at the Temple Downtown, 351 St. Francis St. Entertainment will include performances by Andrew Ayers & Friends and the Marcus Johnson Summer Jazz Camp Orchestra. Tickets are $40.

Saturday, July 26, 6:30 p.m. – A second night of music at the Temple Downtown will feature Roman Street, the Mobile Big Band with Fred Wesley Jr. and Tonya Boyd-Cannon with Keep It Live. Boyd-Cannon, who was featured in Season 8 of “The Voice,” is a Mississippi-born, New Orleans-based artist who has appeared at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Essence Music Festival. Tickets are $25.

Sunday, July 27, 4 pm. – Music continues at the Temple Downtown, starting with a second line with the Excelsior Band. The following lineup includes Mobile-area artist Alvin King & the Fifth K’Nection, Jukebox Brass Band and Gino Rosaria. Tickets are $25.

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