Ohio State’s School of Music will host a number of world-class musicians at the 35th Annual Jazz Festival this weekend.

The Festival will kick off at 6 p.m. Thursday in Weigel Auditorium with Nashville native El Movimiento, featuring OSU alumnus Edwin Imer Santiago. The night will conclude at the Wexner Center with the Miguel Zenon Quartet performing at 8 p.m.

Headlining the lineup of renowned jazz artists are El Movimiento, the Miguel Zenon Quartet and the OSU Jazz Ensemble, featuring vocalist Elaine Richardson, and trumpeter Derrick Gardner.

“It’s an opportunity for students to really see world-class musicians right here on campus,” Dan White, a member of the OSU Jazz Ensemble and fifth-year in jazz studies, said.

White encouraged students to attend both concerts Thursday to see two sides of the jazz spectrum.

“The word ‘jazz’ is pretty wide open,” White said. “These guys are both under the umbrella of jazz, but their music is very different. If (students) came to each show, they would experience an entirely different emphatic from each side that each artist comes from.”

OSU’s Jazz Ensemble featuring Richardson and Gardner will perform at 8 p.m. Friday in Weigel Auditorium, under the direction of Ted McDaniel.

Richardson, known as Dr. E., is a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning and associate faculty member in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Gardner will then headline his own show at 8 p.m. Saturday in Weigel Auditorium.

“It’s not every day you get to perform with such high-level musicians,” White said. “It’s definitely a great opportunity for us. It’s special for us to get to play with them and I hope people can understand how special it is to have musicians like this here.”

Prior to Gardner’s Saturday performance, there will be a free morning concert from 9 a.m. to noon in Weigel Auditorium. The concert will include many jazz combinations from the School of Music.

“A Saturday morning jazz concert is unusual, but we are making it fun as a jazz tailgate prior to the Buckeyes Spring Game,” said Tamara Morris, marketing and publicity coordinator for the School of Music. “Coffee, juice and donuts to the first to arrive. The concert will conclude with a New Orleans-style ‘second line’ march down the Oval to the stadium.”

The Jazz Festival will conclude Sunday with the High School Jazz Bands Day that runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Weigel Auditorium.

Tickets range from $6 to $18 for the general public and $4 to $15 for students with a BuckID for performances that aren’t free.