It is about to get jazzy in center-city Allentown. The inaugural Allentown Jazz Fest launches April 28 and continues through May 3. The six-day event will take place at various sites throughout the revitalized downtown district.

The Allentown Jazz Fest has been just shy of a year in the making, according to Atty. Bryan Tuk, Executive Director and CEO of Performing Arts Live, organizer of the event.

"About a year ago, there was a group of some musicians and a few business people that I had talked to individually about the possibility of, with all that's going on downtown in Allentown that maybe, if the time was right, to try a multi-day music festival."

The reaction from the parties Tuk approached was enthusiastic and the planning started. The group recruited a board of directors and began organizing in earnest.

"It really kind of took on a life of its own," he says. "Fast forward to 11 months later and here we are. We are all very excited."

After the initial planning was set in motion the next step was to work on the lineup of music.

"Our plan was to go after the headliners first and get them under agreement so that we could announce them and then put our call for artists out subsequent to that," he explains.

"It did work. We got a tremendous response and we only solicited through the facebook page. We didn't use ReverbNation or Sonicbids or anything like that.

"We attracted artists from Baltimore, New Orleans, and from New York City and Philly. So, this really is a regional event.

"I don't mean any disrespect to any of the other artists," Tuk replies when asked about highlights of the six-day event.

"We are at 18 performances now, but I think the highlights of the event are going to be Nicole Henry at the Renaissance Allentown on Wednesday [April 29] night. I think Al Chez on Friday night [May 1] from the 'Late Night with David Letterman' band; he's going to be at Miller Symphony Hall with his big band.

"JoJo Mayer is certainly going to be a highlight," adds Tuk. "He's never performed in this region before, and is world-known in the musicians community as an innovator. It [Mayer's music] sounds a lot like electronic music, really, more than jazz. We wanted to book somebody who was a little bit outside of the traditional realm."

Another featured performance mentioned by Tuk is the Oz Noy Trio featuring Anton Fig and Will Lee May 3 at Miller Symphony Hall. All three musicians are among the most highly sought-after studio and session players in the industry. Longtime "Late Show with David Letterman" viewers will recognize Fig and Lee from The CBS Orchestra, the TV show's house band.

Performances will be indoors at sites in the downtown revitalization district. Venues include newcomers Dime, Hamilton Kitchen, Roar-Hush, and the Renaissance Hotel and established arts stalwarts, Miller Symphony Hall and The Allentown Art Museum.

One outdoor performance is scheduled 5 - 7 p.m. April 28 on the patio at Hamilton Kitchen and will feature Funkxpress. Outdoor activities may be considered in the future but organizers didn't want to add weather concerns into the mix for the initial year.

Six of the events are ticketed with the majority being free. "We wanted to make sure that we had a good number of events that anybody can go to," Tuk says.

City Center Lehigh Valley has picked up the tab for parking at the Allentown Parking Authority deck, 612-622 Linden St. Fest-goers will be able to park free of charge during the event on a first-come, first-served basis.

"I really think this is an historic event," Tuk muses. "We've managed to build this alliance between the Art Museum, the Allentown Symphony, City Center Lehigh Valley, Fegley's Brew Works is going to help us out with some promotion, Cedar Crest College, PBS39 out of Bethlehem is involved in helping us with promotion. So, it's really quite the group that we've assembled, especially in our first year. It's really been gratifying to see it all come together."

"I've been surprised every step of the way at how enthusiastic [everyone is]," he says. "I mean, I keep using that word but it's really the best word I can use to describe what's going on.

"There's just so much optimism in Allentown now, in the business community, especially. People are willing to get on board with new ideas. It's a lot more now than in the past."