Twenty of Maine’s finest young jazz musicians, led by one of the nation’s finest professionals, hope to start a new tradition tonight.

The 1996 Maine All Star Jazz Connection, happening at 7 p.m. at Bangor High School’s Peakes Auditorium, is the first cooperative student jazz combo concert the state’s high schools have attempted, according to BHS’ Doug Kennedy, who coordinated the event.

Unlike the other jazz performances and get-togethers Maine high schools often participate in, all the usual trappings of competition for a prize have been stripped away, leaving nothing for the participants but the joy of playing and sharing their individual and unique interpretations of the art with each other and their audience.

“It’s no longer like a competition,” said Jon Ferland, the bassist of the BHS combo who, along with Kennedy, initiated the idea of a cooperative combo concert. “Now it’s just fun.”

These frequent meetings of Maine’s young musical talent have given the state a defined musical community.

According to alto saxophonist Kence Anderson, many who will play tonight are familiar with each other through past performances and contests, and have been able to trade techniques even when technically in competition.

“You appreciate what the other people have done, and the other talents,” percussionist Aaron Emery said.

“They now get an opportunity to play with other players, and not just with the people they play with every day,” Chuck Winfield, music professor at the University of Maine at Augusta and the festival’s special guest, said.

Winfield, who is best known outside Maine for his years of recording experience with the band “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” spent much of Thursday afternoon’s rehearsal time helping the newly formed combos fine-tune their timing and style as they learned to play off each other.

Small combos, especially jazz combos, are stylistically different from larger performances not just in size, but in how performers express themselves.

While a big band setup needs more written synchronization and often a conductor to make sure all the large sections of instruments play their parts at the right times, members of a tiny combo, with just one of each instrument, sketch out just enough rules so they don’t musically step on each other’s toes, and leave the rest up to individual improvisation.

“It allows each student to individually express themselves,” Winfield said. “Everybody has to carry their own weight, musically.”

Kennedy and other music education people around the state chose students based on a number of criteria, Kennedy said; many have won awards for their talent and have achieved local renown at previous performances.

For the concert, the 20 student performers have formed into three combos, each containing students from several schools.

After they all play in turn, Kennedy said, “everyone will come on stage and have a big Paul Schaefer Anniversary Band type of thing.”

The concert’s organizers hope they meet their main goal of simply drawing a big crowd, as the money gained from the $3-$5 tickets will go toward future concerts of this kind.

If all is successful and this becomes an annual event, attendees will also get the chance to share the stage with a special guest; this year, it’s Winfield himself, with his famous trumpet.

“I’ve been looking forward to this since the day they asked me,” Winfield said, with a smile.