Kicking off this year’s festivities will be Beloit native and one of the world’s leading jazz trumpet virtuosos, Tony Scodwell. This year he will get things rolling with a two-hour set on opening night Feb. 22 at Suds O’Hanahan’s Irish Pub, 435 E Grand Ave in Beloit, starting at 7 p.m. He will be backed up by the celebrated Highland Community College Big Band from Freeport, Ill. Special Guests will include another Beloit trumpet virtuoso, John Meyers, as well as BIFF Artistic Director Greg Gerard and the Beloit College Jazz Band.

Scodwell, a formidable veteran of the Big Band music scene, returns to Beloit to recreate some of the great standards. Creator of fine trumpets used worldwide, he has played with legendary stars crossing five decades, from Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett, to Elvis Presley, Diana Ross and Barbara Streisand.