When Jazz in June kicks off this evening in the Brookhaven Village parking lot, it'll mark 25 years for the festival, which is expected to draw more than 50,000 revelers over the next three days.

Free to the public, Jazz in June gets under way tonight at 7 with "Blues Under the Stars," featuring performances by local vocalist Miss Blues and the evening's headlining act Saffire, an all-ladies trio from Virginia. A blues jam session will follow at O'Connell's, 120 E. Lindsey St., from 10:30 p.m. to last call.

Friday night's concert series, at the same location, also begins at 7 p.m. and will feature performances by the Norman North Jazz Choir, Bruce Benson and Studio B and the evening's headliner Barrie Lee Hall Jr. and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Saturday's activities will start off with a free jazz clinic for musicians noon to 4 p.m. at the Norman Institute for the Performing Arts, 2795 Broce Drive.

Andrews Park will host the final day's concert series beginning 6 p.m. Saturday with performances by Joel Young -- the 25th Anniversary Allstars and Jazz in June headliner Chuck Mangione, a Grammy-award winning jazz man who also has a recurring role on Fox's animated series "King of the Hill." A jam session featuring Joel Young -- the Allstars will follow at Sooner Legends Inn and Suites, 1200 24th Ave. SW.

As always, seating will not be provided at any of the events, so concert goers are encouraged to bring a towel or lawn chairs if desired.

Jim Johnson, the program chair, said he wanted to bring Mangione in to give festival goers a chance to hear the artist live--not just on TV or on a recording.

"In 1978 he came out with the huge smash hit 'Feels So Good.' It's the song they say is one of the most recognizable jazz songs ever," Johnson said. "It was kind of like smooth jazz before smooth jazz was even around--it was just huge."

"He probably could have just come up with that one song and retired on it if he wanted to," he added.

Johnson said he started working on Jazz in June as a University of Oklahoma student in 1991 before taking a more active interest in the festival.

"I just used to volunteer with several of my classmates, just kind of participated casually," he said. "But in 1998 I started to put in a lot more time and started to attend most of the meetings they had throughout the year leading up the festival."

Johnson isn't the only person who's stuck around after years and years with Jazz in June.

Karen Holp, KGOU's general manager, has served in just about every capacity -- from program chair to treasurer -- since she joined the team back in 1990.

Holp said Jazz in June, like anything, has a story behind it.

"In '84, a group of people from the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company and the Norman Arts and Humanities Council were apparently sitting around the Service Station having drinks and lamenting that there was no jazz festival in Norman, or the area for that matter," she said.