The webcast will be available free to the public at msnvideo.com/jazzfest. In addition to video and sound, it will include links to photos, interviews, and feature stories. Proceeds from advertising will be donated to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
The webcast requires up-to-date versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player (which are not available on the Apple Macintosh platform).
Organizers of Jazz Fest, as it is known, said within days of Hurricane Katrina that the annual event would go forward as planned despite the damage from the storm. In February, they announced that it would take place at its traditional home, New Orleans' Fair Grounds Race Track.
Among the jazz musicians on the schedule are trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and his New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, pianist Ellis Marsalis with saxophonist Lew Tabackin, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Marcus Roberts, and clarinetist Michael White.