It’s that time of year when talented jazz musicians and their fans descend on Ballard for several days of jam sessions across the neighborhood.

The Ballard Jazz Festival begins in earnest tonight (Friday) with a mainstage concert at the new Nordic Heritage Museum. Clarence Penn and Penn Station along with Oskar Stenmark will be jammin’ in the museum’s beautiful new wood-covered auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door at 6:30 p.m.

Then on Saturday afternoon, a jazz picnic gets underway at Peddler Brewing at 3 p.m. — a new addition to the schedule — followed by the popular Ballard Jazz Walk at 6 p.m. More than two dozen musicians and groups are scheduled to play across several venues including Conor Byrne, Egan’s Jam House, Bad Alberts and Salmon Bay Eagles. Here’s the full schedule (.pdf).

Tickets are available online and at the Ballard Landmark on Leary on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m.

(Ballard Jazz Festival file photo from 2016.)