ARIZONA JAZZ FESTIVAL LINEUP

Friday, April 12 » 7 p.m.: Will Downing. » 1:15 p.m.: Lalah Hathaway and Rahsaan Patterson. » 3 p.m.: Larry Graham and Graham Central Station. » 4:45 p.m.: David Pack, Peter White and Mindi Abair. » 6:30 p.m.: Jeffrey Osborne and Euge Groove. » 8:30 p.m.: The Isley Brothers. Sunday, April 14 » 11:30 a.m.: Andre Delano, Jeanette Harris and Phil Denny. » 1 p.m.: Nick Colionne. » 2:30 p.m.: Angie Stone. 4 p.m.: David Sanborn. » 5:45 p.m.: India.Arie. » 7:30 p.m.: Anthony Hamilton. » 8:30 p.m.: Jill Scott. Saturday, April 13 » Noon: Elan Trotman. says. “That’s kind of been the saving grace. If you pick up one of my projects, you know what you’re going to get and you know that it will be better musically and vocally than the last one.”

It’s true. A 15-year-old Downing album doesn’t sound vastly different from “Silver.” If you put all his albums on an iPod and played them randomly, only a die-hard fan could pick out newer tracks from older cuts. That’s because he stays away from fads.

“Don’t follow the trends unless you’re really into them,” he says, sounding like a music-biz exec. “I’ve seen artists come and go by following trends. ‘If all the kids are wearing skinny-legged jeans and bow ties, I’m gonna put my fat ass in skinny legged jeans and put on a bow tie.’ It doesn’t work. People know a fraud when they see it.

“If you’re a ballad singer, be the best ballad singer you can be. If you’re singing up tempo, God bless you, but I’m a ballad singer.”

An evolving look

Baby-making slow