It’s been running for 22 years, and if it remains as popular as it is now it’ll run for many more.

The 22nd annual WSU Jazz Festival takes place all day today in Kimbrough Music Building and will feature 14 different high school bands, as well as some of WSU’s own jazz ensembles.

“It’s one of the cultural highlights of the year at WSU,” said Greg Yasinitsky, director of the WSU School of Music.

The WSU Jazz Festival is an opportunity to show high school students the facilities this campus provides, and it’s a great chance to bring outstanding guest artists to WSU, he said.

The guest artists this year are Brian Ploeger, a current WSU graduate student who once played in The Maynard Ferguson Band, and Tom Morgan, the director of percussion studies at Washburn University.

Both Ploeger and Morgan will play alongside the WSU Jazz Big Band during the Gala Concert happening at noon today in Bryan Hall Theatre.

Brian Ward, instructor of jazz piano, has been working behind the scenes for months now, contacting high schools and rustling up WSU students to help with the event.

“A lot of schools count on this festival to start the year,” he said. “From day one they’re working toward it.”

There are some benefits for the bands who attend, and the available spots tend to fill up quickly, Ward said.

One of these benefits will be instrument-specific clinics taught throughout the day by WSU instructors, which are designed to improve upon the students’ playing.

“We’ll be dealing with section playing, improvisation, and ensemble playing. It’s a very interactive type of situation,” said Brad Ard, instructor of guitar.

Besides playing for their peers, students will also perform in front of a panel of judges, who will hand out plaques to the bands that impress them the most, Ward said.

“Music isn’t like tennis or football. There’s no score to look at in the end,” Yasinitsky said. “The judges try to balance all the characteristics they like to see in a jazz band, and see which encompasses it best.”

The festival comes to its close at 4:20 p.m. when Jazz Northwest, the WSU faculty band, will take the stage in Kimbrough Music Building and play through a few songs before the high school bands return home.

“The students appreciate having this opportunity, and we like having them,” Ward said.

The festival is free for everyone to attend and stretches from 8:20 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. today in Kimbrough Music Building and Bryan Hall.