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This story was corrected Sept. 8. Details of the correction are at the end of the story.

For Marcus Johnson, surviving the music industry requires more than an understanding of scales and chord progressions.

The jazz musician is also an entrepreneur, which includes his own production and distribution company. This year, he hosted his first music summer camp for teenagers at The National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, and in January, he will premiere a line of wines under his FLO Brands name.

But before he dabbled in viticulture, Johnson co-founded a free concert in his native Silver Spring. Now in its eighth year, the Silver Spring Jazz Festival will take place Saturday at the Silver Spring Civic Center.

Johnson, a pianist and composer, will headline the show with fellow acts such as La Leyenda, Sheila Ross and Project Natale. Accompanying Johnson will be his band and French DJ Young Pulse. The two began working together in 2010 under the name “Juris” and now release small collections of songs on their website, flobrands.com, called FLO Paks. Johnson says the collaboration fuses European electronic beats with jazz sounds.

“If you listen to the new Flo Paks, you can see a definite change in my vibe. It’s pretty incredible,” he says.

The last album Johnson put out prior to working with Pulse was July 2010’s “This is How I Rock.” The album was a collection of covers that re-imagined tunes like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which he says he will play at Saturday’s show.

Susan Hoffmann, communications and public outreach manager for Montgomery County Recreation, co-founded the festival.

“She was head of the marketing for Silver Spring and Susan’s like ‘Marcus, we can do this,’” Johnson recalls. “It’s amazing to see the committee and support of such a community where literally everybody got behind us.”

An avid jazz lover, Hoffmann says the collaboration with Johnson was a natural fit.

“Our visions kind of meshed, and the first year he was our headliner, eight years ago,” Hoffmann says. “And he has played every year since. Even when he had sort of international level headliners, we always brought Marcus back because he has a very strong following in the community.”

As producer, Hoffmann books the acts that through the years have included Allen Touissant, Aaron Neville and Arturo Sandoval.

Hoffmann says the first event was a good sign that the festival would be a success.

“I always like to tell the story that the Austin Grill ran out of chicken and the Lebanese Taverna ran out of hummus. It was pretty amazing. No one was prepared for that level of turn out,” Hoffmann recalls.

This year, Hoffmann selected performers with a range of influences from the Latin jazz sounds of La Leyenda to Baltimore singer Sheila Ross.

“[Ross] is a vocalist who actually started out in rock ’n’ roll and has shifted over to jazz,” Hoffmann says.

Helmed by saxophonist and flutist Ted David, La Leyenda began in 2002 as a 13-member outfit. David shaves down the members depending on the occasion, including the 8-man jazz combo that will perform on Saturday. The name of the group is Spanish for “the legend” and that is often the kind of music the group enjoys playing.

“What we try to pick out for our repertoire is music that the grandparents know, the parents know and the kids know,” David says. “It’s stuff that has remained popular over generations sort of like Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff.’ Everybody knows that.” In addition to David’s originals, other songs include standbys by artists such as Tito Peunte. David says his music is inspired by the Palladium era of Latin music in New York City where dances like the mambo proliferated.

“What I had started writing was basically a classic Latin band and jazz repertoire out of the era where Latin music really started becoming popular,” he says.

David’s affection for Latin music began in 1994, when he found himself unemployed after a career in electrical engineering. Looking to kill time, David asked a friend if anyone around town needed a saxophonist.

“I got a call from a Salvadorean gentleman,” David recalls. “I spoke no Spanish at the time. I called my son to the phone to find out the job was at 15th and Irving at such and such time on Saturday, wear black pants and a white shirt. I showed up there to find the most horrifically handwritten music. I had never played anything like it in my life.”

Despite the poor penmanship, David became infatuated with the genre, exploring everything from meringue to cumbia. The Hyattsville resident says he owns more than 500 albums of Latin music, and the group’s repertoire consists of 200-plus songs. Singer Laura Sosa will accompany the combo on Saturday.

Project Natale will play a combination of modern and classic jazz at the festival. Started by brothers, bassist Joseph F. Natale and drummer Lou Natale, the group is inspired by acts like Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Project Natale started in 1998 after the two moved from Timber Pines, Fla., to Burtonsville. Having spent 25 years immersed in Florida’s jazz scene, Lou Natale says they were looking for a region with a more eclectic palette. Once they had arrived, they rounded out their lineup with tenor sax player Carl Cornwell and pianist Bob Butta.

The group has recorded five CDs together, including 2010’s “Endangered Liberties.” Lou Natale says their latest is their best. Joseph Natale composes for the band, and Lou Natale says his growing familiarity with the players has strengthened their sound.

“It’s like a family,” Lou Natale says. “It gets to the point where everybody can be in different rooms and still be playing [the same song].”

With a lineup of experienced acts, Johnson and Hoffmann hope the Silver Spring Jazz Festival will continue to maintain its steady crescendo.

tforhecz@gazette.net

The Silver Spring Jazz Festival runs from 3:30 to 9 p.m. at the Silver Spring Civic Center, One Veterans Plaza. Admission is free. Call 240-777-6821 or visit www.silverspringdowntown.com.

Correction

Susan Hoffmann’s title was misidentified in the original story. Her correct title is communications and public outreach manager for Montgomery County Recreation.