The third annual Medford Jazz Festival, expanded to three days and two venues this year, begins with a program at Arts Collaborative Medford, the new community arts center on Mystic Avenue. Up first at 6 p.m. will be Jam and Student Night featuring students from Morningside Music Studio in Arlington. Taking the stage at 8 p.m. will be the Achilles Heal Sax Quartet: Kathy Olson, Diane Wernick, Rick Stone and Sean Berry. Admission is free, though donations to support the festival are gratefully accepted.

Days 2 and 3 of the festival will take place at the West Medford Community Center on Saturday and Sunday, August 17 and 18. Saturday’s program will begin with the Ally Project featuring Terry E. Carter at 1 p.m. At 3 p.m., pianist Anastassiya Petrova and other recent graduates of Medford native Terri Lyne Carrington’s Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice will perform. Sunday’s lineup has saxophonist Jim Repa’s nonet at 3 p.m., and the Kevin Harris Project with Jason Palmer concluding at 5 p.m.

Jazz pianist Jonathan Fagan launched the Medford Jazz Festival in October 2020 with a five-day event showcasing the cultural diversity, creativity and talent of local musicians through several virtual concerts. In-person jam sessions were initiated in December 2021, and the first in-person Jazz Festival followed in October 2022.