Chance Hayden’s Baritone Gold is on the festival schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The North Coast is getting a jazz festival back.

The inaugural Seaside Jazz and Blues event will fill the Seaside Civic & Convention Center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a broad range of musical forms from 16 bands.

Building on the tradition of a jazz festival that ran in Seaside for more than 30 years, Seaside Jazz and Blues is presented by Studio138, a former Seaside art gallery turned music promotion company run by Carrie and Greg Bond.

When the Bonds moved to the North Coast three years ago, they felt they were missing jazz tunes in their community.

“We thought about bringing back the jazz festival, but in a different format,” Carrie Bond said.

The festival used to focus on traditional jazz and danceable zydeco and swing, but this new version will aim to present more modern genres of jazz to a wider audience.

“Jazz is enjoyed by people of all ages. There hasn’t been a music festival quite like this here,” Bond said.

The festival is a benefit for the Kyle Rieger Memorial Scholarship, which will help Seaside students pay for music camps and instruments and support a graduating senior in their music education.

The scholarship is named after Rieger, a Seaside middle and high school band teacher who died in 2022. The benefit is a tradition the Bonds hope to continue with an annual event.

The Seaside High School Jazz Band will open the festival Friday afternoon with standards and original compositions by Rieger, followed by performances from Adriana Wagner, Ramsey Embick and Ryan Meagher.

The festival headliner, Jimmie Herrod, is a singer-songwriter who came to prominence as an America’s Got Talent finalist.

As a soloist, he has appeared with several symphony orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, and as a featured soloist for PBS’ “Joni Mitchell Songbook” concert. He has also performed with the group Pink Martini. Herrod will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Pianist Gordon Lee will perform at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with his quartet. They started during the coronavirus pandemic by playing gigs on his porch in southeast Portland.

“We’re playing mostly my music, but I like to mix it up so we’re gonna play a few jazz standards that the audience is going to know,” Lee said. “It’s great to see that there are people who are willing to help organize events like this for all these trade musicians to come and play and celebrate that part of the world.”

Other musicians scheduled to play on Saturday include Mary Flower and the BBQ Boys, Chance Hayden’s Baritone Gold, Battle Hymns and Gardens, Art Abrams Swing Machine Big Band and King Louis and Renato Caranto.

Saxophone player Reggie Houston, of New Orleans, Louisiana, will close out the festivities at 5 p.m. Sunday.

The inaugural Carlton Jackson Award for Excellence in Musical Education and Musicianship, named for the late drummer, will also be announced on Saturday.

Day and festival passes are available online and at the Seaside Civic & Convention Center box office. Food, drinks, art and festival merchandise will also be available.

“I’m so happy to be a part of this,” Lee said. “There’s so many great musicians in a variety of styles, everything from gospel to jazz, and so it’s going to be a wonderful event.”

Seaside Jazz and Blues

Seaside Jazz and Blues

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Seaside Civic & Convention Center, 415 First Ave., Seaside

Admission is $40 per day or $100 for a weekend pass, reserved private tables are available for $225; Saturday and Sunday workshops are $20

Donations will be accepted for the Kyle Rieger Memorial Scholarship fund

www.seaside138.com/seasidejazzandblues