Sitting in between the small dividers that make up the Jazz Club office in 224 HUB, club President Aleister Saunders leaned back in his chair and spoke enthusiastically about a rising star and a weekend he hopes will be a big one.

Saturday, the fifth Annual Jazz Festival will be held from noon to 5 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium. The event is free.

Saunders said this year's headlining act, Courtney Pine, is someone everyone must see.

Pine, whose first American release entered the Billboard Top Jazz Album chart on March 17 at number 10, is a British tenor saxophonist who, according to Saunders, is the next "big thing" in jazz.

Pine's agent told Saunders that Pine was going to have "the same sort of year" this year that 23 year old jazz pianist Harry Connick Jr. had last year. Connick created the soundtrack to the film When Harry Met Sally. . .

Pine is not only being compared to Connick because of their musical similarities. Pine is also a young man and at 25 years old he is already receiving critical acclaim from both sides of the Atlantic.

"I have the utmost respect for him, and the guy's only 25 years old," Saunders said.

Saunders said he reads and hears a lot about Pine and the more he hears his music, the more he likes him.

"There's no one in this genre of music who can appease jazz fans and pop fans like (Pine) can," he said.

A big reason for Pine's mass appeal is that he's not what Saunders calls a "hard core" jazz musician. Instead, he plays a type of music anyone of different musical tastes can enjoy.

Hector Flores, director of "The Jazz Spectrum," a jazz music program from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays on WPSU, said he is anticipating the Pine's arrival and hopes his performance at the Jazz Festival will ignite more interest in the local jazz scene.

"I hope it will entice people to look for live jazz places in town and on campus," he said.

Saunders said that two other bands will also play before Pine takes the stage at 3 p.m. Passport, a Latin jazz band from State College, will play at noon while Fusion 4, a classical / contemporary jazz band from Harrisburg, will perform at 1:30 p.m.

Passport, along with some other musicians, contains members from two local bands, with a percussionist from the Earthtones and a bassist and a drummer from Ruder Than You.

Saunders said Pine's appearance, along with the other two bands at this years festival, is a move away from fusion, a mixture of rock and jazz, of the past few years, to a more classic style of jazz.

"All those fusion acts we had (in past years) made me say to myself, 'we've had enough fusion for a while; let's get back to our roots,' "he said.

Saunders said there has been "disappointingly little" response to the festival in the past.

In order to attract more people, this year's festival is in concordance with the University Concert Committee, which is presenting two other jazz artists, Stanley Jordan and Al Di Meola, at 9 p.m. Saturday.

Saunders said that along with getting to see great talent for free, the festival will be a good cultural experience.

"This is a diversity concert, in the sense that we don't have jazz concerts to go to free. . .ever. . .so to see the international talent is just wonderful," he said.

He added that it is really an opportunity that should not be passed up.

"I hope (everyone) takes their Saturday afternoon off to see a free concert, and enjoy it," he said.