Next Generation Jazz Festival brings a weekend of 150-plus jazz shows to Monterey.

It was 1971 when the California High School Competition invited the top 10 high school jazz bands in California to come to Monterey and play. The winners populated a California All-Star Band. That was the beginning of the event that overtakes downtown Monterey this weekend.

Renamed the Next Generation Jazz Festival in 2004, it’s grown exponentially from the top 10 in the state to the top 12 in the nation, and now includes not just high schools but also middle schools and colleges. It is a time of learning, camaraderie and intense competition, as participants vie for division ensemble categories. As individual players, they also vie to be named to the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, an elite, 21-person ensemble chosen as the best of the best with subsequent touring opportunities and a performance slot at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Next Gen orchestra alumni include the likes of Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin, Mark Turner and Dave Koz. Rob Klevan, who ran the event until 2011, was fond of saying, “If you’re chosen to be here, you’ve already won, regardless of how you might finish in the judging.”

This year offers a couple of new twists. While the festival has always had international groups, for the first time, school ensembles from both Europe and Central America have been selected for the competitive finalist divisions. “There is a much stronger international flavor and presence this year,” says Education Director Paul Contos.

This year also marks Contos achieving a long-term festival goal of his. “Most jazz educational festivals are much smaller than Next Gen, and have the ability to hold short performance critiques immediately after an ensemble performs their set,” he explains. This year, Next Gen will offer live performance clinics immediately following the top 12 high school big bands on Saturday. “We are over the moon that jazz celebrities like drummer Jeff Hamilton and saxophonist/composer Bob Mintzer will be offering these real-time critiques,” Contos says.

The weekend packs over 100 ensembles from 11 states doing 150-plus shows into two-and-a-half days. Members of the public are welcome to check out a half-dozen venues going simultaneously at any given time. “They can hear and observe phenomenal music being performed at any one of the stages – for free,” Contos says.

49TH ANNUAL NEXT GENERATION JAZZ FESTIVAL April 5-7. Opening night Judges Concert 7pm Friday; Judging competitions 8:30 am-midnight Saturday and 9am-6pm Sunday. Multiple downtown Monterey venues. Free/$50 VIP for Judges Concert. 373-3366, montereyjazzfestival.org/ngjf