The annual Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival will return virtually this year and will be streaming live at lancasteravephilly.com/jazzfest beginning at noon this Saturday, Sept. 18. The festival offers a tribute to Grover Washington, Jr.

This is the 15th season for the festival, organized by staff at People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and a planning committee of neighborhood residents.

Musicians in the lineup must perform at least one piece by the Philadelphia-based saxophonist, known for hits like “Magic Man” and “Just the Two of Us.” The Grover Washington Jr. Tribute Legacy Band headlines the event. Other performers include Glenn Bryan and Friends, The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble, Denise King and Friends, Chris Aschman and Trinidelphia, TC THE 3RD, and Greg Moore and Actual Proof. The line-up was curated by Leo Gadson of The Producer’s Guild of Philadelphia.

The festival takes place every year in Saunders Park Greene, but was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the planning committee pivoted to a virtual event over the summer, in response to the increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and spread of the Delta variant of the virus. Committee members hope to return to a live, in-person event in 2022.

The festival will be live streamed over PEC’s YouTube Channel, PECCaresPhilly, and details are available at www.lancasteravephilly.com/jazzfest.