Kermit Ruffins was surprised to hear he’s sharing the bill at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest with several other acts from New Orleans.

“I’m glad to hear that,” the jazz trumpeter said in a phone interview from his home base in the Big Easy. “We’re gonna have a good time. New Orleans musicians rarely get to see each other, so when we do, it’s a big party backstage.”

That party, set for Aug. 12-14 on a dozen stages around downtown San Jose, will include acts that have been in the vanguard of the Nola sound, like the funky METERS, and bands that are reinventing the tradition for contemporary audiences, like Galactic. The funky METERS are an offshoot of the Meters, a band formed in 1967 and widely credited with introducing New Orleans funk to the general public. Galactic formed in 1994; the band’s sound combines New Orleans funk with hip-hop, electronic music and straight-ahead rock.

Ruffins falls somewhere in between, having formed his first band, Rebirth Brass Band, in 1982 when he was just 17.

Ruffins left Rebirth when the band’s touring schedule got to be too much for him. In 1992 he formed the Barbecue Swingers, a band that has had solid bookings at New Orleans bars and clubs for years.

Ruffins said the constant influx of tourists to his hometown makes it unnecessary for him to go out and see the world. “Why travel when you’re already there?” he asked rhetorically.

But for Art Neville, touring “pretty much comes with the territory of being a musician, or at least a performing musician.”

“There’s always a need to hit the road to promote our new records, even work on new material prior to recording a record,” said the keyboard player, who performed at San Jose’s jazz festival with the Neville Brothers in 2013 and is back this year with the funky METERS. “It’s great seeing fans’ reactions to new songs or grooves before they’ve ever been released.”

Neville and bassist George Porter Jr. form the core of the funky METERS and were the founding members of the Meters.

“We’ve been fortunate enough that our fans have stuck with us through all the years and enabled us to keep sharing our music,” Neville said. “We’re really blessed in that way.”

Despite Ruffins’ reticence to tour, jazz fest director Bruce Labadie said persistence paid off when it came to getting him to agree to play the San Jose gig.

“We called him at home and talked with his wife, and I think maybe the timing was just right,” Labadie said.

Ruffins agreed that talking to his wife Lexie, who is also his manager, was a good move on Labadie’s part.

“We just go where we’re called,” he said of his band. “I never look at my itinerary; I never know where I’m going until I get there.

“I hate to travel, but I love the stage,” he added.

Many New Orleans musicians had no choice but to head for higher ground after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

“Well, immediately after Katrina everyone was displaced,” Neville said, “so whatever city anyone made it to had a huge injection of New Orleans’ artists, musicians, chefs, etc. on their local scene. I think it helped everyone. The musicians had work in new places if they hadn’t toured before, and the venues had some new artists to promote to their local scene.”

Still, he said, despite the fact that Neville and his brother Aaron moved their families to Nashville after Katrina and another brother, Cyril, landed in Austin, “we all felt that, yes, we needed to be ambassadors not only for our city but the music and culture our city has given the world for many decades, so we took New Orleans out to the world. We toured the U.S. and Europe heavily for a few years post-Katrina, letting people know we’re strong and New Orleans would survive.”

Ruffins is helping keep New Orleans’ musical legacy alive within city limits. He cites fellow trumpet player and New Orleans native Louis Armstrong as a strong influence, and his repertoire is heavy on songs Armstrong made popular in the early 20th century, like “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Sleepy Time Down South.”

“For the most part, any time I hit the stage, it’s all traditional music,” he said. “My arrangements are in the old-school style.”

‘Cueing Up

Ruffins has two performances lined up on Aug. 13 at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage in Plaza de Cesar Chavez and at 7:30 p.m. on the Big Easy Stage on Post Street. He wasn’t sure whether he’d be back in New Orleans on Sunday in time for the open mic at Kermit’s Treme Mother-in-Law Lounge, where he also barbecues ribs for the crowd.

If he stays in San Jose, he’ll be able to hear still more New Orleans acts on the Big Easy Stage on Aug. 14, including the Iguanas and the Honey Island Swamp Band. The former band is a longtime Nola staple; the latter is made up of New Orleans natives who all found their way to San Francisco in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Besides Ruffins, Saturday’s Big Easy lineup includes the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, featuring Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, and the 19-piece Vaud and the Villains. The funky METERS and Galactic will precede Ruffins on the Main Stage with respective Friday sets at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

For a full Jazz Summer Fest schedule, including artist information and ticket sales, visit summerfest.sanjosejazz.org.