JVC Festival: Old Wein in New Bottles : Jazz: The annual offering by George Wein in New York accents ‘traditional’ (read ‘bop’) music by mostly 40-and-under musicians.

NEW YORK —  Back in the ‘50s when jazz was more of a presence in the musical mainstream than it is now, people looked for history-in-the-making at the festivals that George Wein organized every summer in Newport, R.I.

And, more often than not, defining moments in the music’s evolution would surface. One thinks especially of the 1956 performance of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” by the Duke Ellington Orchestra that set fire to the audience and signaled Duke’s return to prominence.

Then there are the scattered, off-the-track moments that jazz historians don’t cite, but audiences retain as memory postcards. Like the time Sonny Rollins, in the middle of an improvisation, started trading fours with a sea gull flying overhead.

These are the kinds of things that keep jazz fans from all over the country flocking to Wein’s festivals, the biggest and gaudiest of which remains the JVC Jazz Festival, which opens here today.

Though Wein’s Festival Productions now has proprietorship over jazz festivals throughout the world, it is the JVC festival that is the direct descendant of the annual Newport Jazz Festivals that were held almost continuously from 1954 to 1971 near the July 4 holiday.

Newport Jazz Festival’s transition to the New York Jazz Festival was an initially painful but ultimately triumphant one for Wein, who was forced to end the 1971 festival prematurely because of rioting by young audiences who, as Wein recalled of those post-Woodstock, post-Altamont days of rock, believed the music “should be free, should belong to the people.”

This year’s festival has generated more anticipation than any in the last few years because of its domination by 40-and-under musicians playing acoustic, traditional jazz. (The irony here is that what is now considered “traditional” has as its foundation the be-bop revolution of the late ‘40s.)

On Wednesday and Thursday, for instance, the Equitable Auditorium is hosting two concerts, respectively titled, “Swing: 40 and Under” and “Bop: 40 and Under.” Among the many young players featured in these shows are saxophonists Bobby Watson, Scott Hamilton, Christopher Hollyday, trombonists Wycliffe Gordon and Robin Eubanks, pianists Mulgrew Miller, Renee Rosnes and organist Joey DeFrancesco.

Other concerts feature such diverse talents as saxophonists David Murray, Kenny Garrett, Tim Warfield and Antonio Hart, pianists Benny Green, Geoff Keezer, Niels Lan Doky, trumpeters Jon Faddis, Marlon Jordan, Roy Hargrove and, of course, the most celebrated under-30 jazz man of all, Wynton Marsalis, who leads a concert by the “Jazz Futures” band Saturday night at Lincoln Center.

Older, more familiar names also will appear during the course of the festival, including Mel Torme, who headlines tonight’s tributes to Duke Ellington at Carnegie Hall. A Monday concert pays tribute to 86-year-old trumpeter Doc Cheatham with the help of such notables as Dizzy Gillespie, Warren Vache, Buddy Tate, Harry (Sweets) Edison and, yes, the ubiquitous Wynton Marsalis.

Marian McPartland and her award-winning “Piano Jazz” program will be honored in a Wednesday show, featuring established and up-and-coming pianists like Miller, Rosnes, Tommy Flanagan, Sir Roland Hanna, Marcus Roberts and Dave Brubeck.

There are a couple of concerts devoted to rock-funk-fusion, notably tonight’s opener at Lincoln Center featuring the unyieldingly amplified Miles Davis and blues giant B.B. King.