As a jazz band swings freely on stage, thousands of listeners picnic on the lawn, white a warm summer breeze blows In from the lake.

The scene, however, is not the annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park but a decidedly more intimate affair on Chicago's South Side.

Jazz Fest 2005-running Saturday and Sunday at the South Shore Cultural Center-doesn't rank as the biggest summer jazz bash In Chicago, but it may be the friendliest.

Ever since Chicago jazz impresario Geraldine De Haas inaugurated the event in 1381, it has been living proof that a jazz festival can be sophisticated yet not intimidating, free to the public yet manageable in size.

Look over the crowd, and you'll see food cooking, kids playing and musicians beaming as the waters of Lake Michigan splash nearby. If there'$ a more idyllic setting, for a summer's jazz weekend in Chicago, it has yet to be discovered.

"I think we have built up a following," says De Haas, an understatement, considering the thousands of Chicagoans and out-of- towners who have savored the event for two decades.

Yet because of the neighborhood setting (at 71st Street and the lakefront) and the back-yard feel of the festival (which unfolds behind the South Shore Guttural Center), the proceedings always have felt low-key, relaxed and welcoming.

That's not to say, however, that the programming has been nonchalant. m the opening installment of the festival in 1981, De Haas has aimed for the top, that year alone featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Von Freeman, Billy Taylor, Art Hodes, Muddy Waters, Art Hodes and Betty Carter, among others.

Ever since, De Haas has spotlighted jazz legends and emerging talents alike, her most recant discovery having been Maurice Brown, the brilliant young trumpeter who turned in a revelatory set in 2001.

Yet like any arts institution, this festival and the organization that produces it, the not-for-profit Jazz Unites Inc.-has had Its ups and downs.

After De Haas suffered a stroke in 1999, the event began to wither, dwindling to one day in 2001 and attracting a small audience in 2003.

Last year, De Haas began to reassert control, again drawing thousands to a festival that looked and sounded reborn. Before large and enthusiastic audiences, the great Oscar Brown Jr. gave one of his last major performances before his death in May at age T8, And the exquisite, Chicago-based! Two for Brazil-staffed by-singer- guitarist Paulinho Garcia and tenor saxophonist Greg Fishman -- offered muted music-making that never would have survived the mud- bath acoustics of the Petrillo Music Shell.

In many ways, though, this year could be a turning point for the fest, expanding to include a gala dinner and dance Friday at the South Shore Cultural Center. The event, a fundraiser for Jazz Unites, will present the new "We Love You Madly" Awards to jazz and civic luminaries, including pianist Billy Taylor, deejay Larry Smith and Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.), all of whom will be present,

"The idea of the gala is to start marketing festive! as a three- day event-a big weekend of jazz," says Delmarie Cobb, a consultant to Jazz Fest 2005 who has wooed Mercedes-Benz and SL.S Audio as major sponsors for this year's event.

"We think this Festival can be a gold mine" for Jazz Unites, adds Cobb, who believes the new sponsorships can help support concerts that Jazz Unites presents throughout the year.

The festival is unique, she says, "because ifs an African- American event that’s African-American-produced on the South Side of the city, drawing a high-caliber audience,

"It's like a big family reunion."
With great music.