Various types of music can be heard throughout town on any given weekend, but jazz is a rare gem in the State College music scene.

Galen Rivers (senior-fine arts) wants to change that.

As president of the Penn State Jazz Club, Rivers is working to jazz up State College by bringing in jazz performers.

Amina Myers, a jazz/blues/gospel singer and pianist, will perform a free concert at 8 tonight in Esber Recital Hall.

"[Myers is] very accomplished but not a big name in the popular sense. She has a lot of things under her belt," Rivers said.

The Jazz Club is more of a "culture club" than a "musicians' club," and it wants to "bring more exposure of different things in this town," Rivers said.

In coordination with the Integrative Arts department, the School of Music and the Equal Opportunity Planning Commission, various jazz artists will be visiting the Penn State campus this year and giving free performances provided by the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC).

"We get world-class jazz musicians to come from around the country or sometimes from around the world," Rivers said. "[They] give workshops, teach people stuff about their instruments, [and have] one small reception and one large formal show."

Myers lectured in Ronnie Burrage's INART 297E (World's Closer) class, which began this semester, Thursday.

Anyone is welcome to attend these lectures, said Chris Byrne, a Penn State mathematics professor and adviser for the Jazz Club.

"We try to get artists to interact with students offstage," Byrne said. "[It's a] really personal vibe instead of this sort of mega rockstar [vibe] that's sort of unapproachable."

Burrage said he had been around the world by the time he was 16, including a tour with jazz legend Duke Ellington and traveling through Europe with Myers.

"After the years roll by you don't remember all the places you've been with people," Burrage said. "We definitely played many festivals in Europe together."

Many people misinterpret jazz, Byrne said, which began in New Orleans around the start of the 20th century.

"Great music is always changing," Byrne said.

"When people from different cultures encounter each other, new music starts happening. If you try to pin it down to one sound, you're gonna be missing things. There's sort of a history of sounds that have been made [and a] whole future of sounds that are jazz that haven't been made yet."