Hello, 4-0!

Forty. The big four-oh. Just the thought of turning 40 is enough to make some people bolt to the nearest car dealership for a sleek, red, super-fast sports car (or so the cliché goes). It surely doesn’t help that your friends think it’s funny to commemorate your big day with tacky gag gifts and prune juice.

But there’s another side to 40 that our youth-obsessed culture rarely validates. Wisdom. Experience. Stability. And in the case of the Reno Jazz Festival, some really kick-ass music.

Since its birth at the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1962, the Reno Jazz Festival was a groundbreaking event. Music professor John Carrico envisioned not just a collection of jazz bigwigs showing their stuff, but a place where students, teachers and pros could interact, as UNR music department chairman Larry Engstrom told the Nevada Silver & Blue magazine.

“It was one of the first of its kind anywhere,” Engstrom said. “There were jazz festivals like the Newport Jazz Festival, but they featured concerts with famous artists. Carrico’s idea was to bring in well-known jazz performers, but also school groups, and give them a place to play. It caught on like wildfire in just a few years.”

After Carrico’s death in 1979, his son organized the festival for the next 10 years before the university took back the reins. Now, the fate of the festival lies in the hands of C.J. Walters of the College of Extended Studies, who stressed the importance of the festival that has become an institution.

“The big reason for the university hosting this festival is to allow young jazz performers from the West not only to compete, but to hear each other … and to learn how diverse the opportunities are for jazz players out there,” Walters said.

But it’s not just the students who are listening to each other—UNR professors actively scout the festival for new talent, Engstrom said.

“Over the years, some of the best students we’ve recruited for the music department have come through the jazz festival,” he said.

They’ll certainly have plenty of talent to choose from, as the festival brings in roughly 6,000 students from five different states. Walters said about 200 schools will be represented—from middle school through college—and about 320 groups will be competing and attending clinics with jazz educators, mentors and stars.

Speaking of stars, no jazz festival would be complete without at least a couple. Headlining the Thursday night concert in the university’s Nightingale Concert Hall is jazz vibraphonist and composer Bobby Hutcherson, who some critics call the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. Hutcherson will perform with Reno’s own The Collective, made up of UNR jazz professors Engstrom, Hans Halt, Francis Vanek, David Ake and Andrew Heglund.

Friday night, The Nicholas Payton Quintet will headline at UNR’s Lawlor Events Center. Payton, along with fellow trumpeter Doc Cheatham (now deceased), won a Grammy Award in 1997 for solo work on the song “Stardust.” Payton also received a Grammy nomination this year for the recording Dear Louie, in which the musician pays homage to the legendary trumpeter Louie Armstrong.

An after-hours jam session will kick off at 10 p.m. at the Hacienda Restaurant & Bar, 10580 N. McCarran Blvd. There is no cover, but you must be 21 or older to attend.

The festival comes to an end Saturday night with the Festival Showcase and Awards Ceremony, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in Lawlor Events Center. Some of the best groups and soloists competing at the festival will get a chance to step into the spotlight for an encore performance.

But when the lights in Lawlor dim and the students return home, C.J. Walters will still be hard at work organizing the next Reno Jazz Festival—the big 4-1.

Reno Jazz Festival schedule of events:

Thursday, April 18

- Bobby Hutcherson and The Collective, 7:30 p.m. at Nightingale Concert Hall, inside the Church Fine Arts Complex. $15 general admission, $12 seniors, $8 students.

Friday, April 19

- Festival Competition and Workshops/Clinics, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at various locations on the UNR campus.

- The Nicholas Payton Quintet, 7:30 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. $24 general admission, $18 seniors, $12 students.

- After-hours jam session, 10 p.m. at the Hacienda Restaurant & Bar, 10580 N. McCarran Blvd. No cover (must be 21).

Saturday, April 20

- Festival Competition and Workshops/Clinics, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at various locations on the UNR campus.

- Festival Showcase and Awards Ceremony, 6:30 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. $10 general admission, $8 seniors, $6 students.The Jazz Fan Ticket Package provides entrance to all events, including daytime competition and clinics and evening concerts with preferred seating. These passes are $50 for general admission and $40 for seniors, UNR faculty and staff and FTLOJ members. To buy festival passes or individual tickets, call the University Arts Box Office at 784-6847.