Headlined by world-renowned jazz legends Phil Woods, David Liebman, Bob Dorough, and Urbie Green, the 31st Annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) packs 18 sets of ensemble jazz performances, plus theater and arts, into a three-day festival in the scenic Borough of Delaware Water Gap, from Friday, September 5, through Sunday, September 7.

The festival opens Friday evening with a reception for COTA’s Music Motif Show, a juried mixed-media art show, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Antoine Dutot Museum & Gallery on Main Street (Route 611) (no admission charge). In keeping with its tradition of supporting all the performing arts, COTA then presents an evening of edgy political theater, classical music, and jazz from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain, across the street from the museum. Admission for this event is $8.00 per person, at the door.

On Saturday and Sunday, the music moves outdoors—to a superbly sound-engineered Main Stage on Delaware Avenue (in front of the historic Castle Inn)—as COTA presents two jam-packed days of jazz, a splendid array of Bebop, Swing, Blues, Jazz Fusion, and Latin, with three outstanding Big Bands whose repertoires incorporate newly transcribed charts and new arrangements. (What you hear at COTA, you may never hear again.)