When people think of Deer Isle, among the first things that come to mind are lobster, artists and the causeway onto the island.

Now, thanks to a dedicated group of workers at the Stonington Opera House, jazz is becoming a draw, for at least one weekend a year.

The third annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival will be held this weekend, featuring such name players as Luciana Souza, Fred Hersh and Joe Lovano.

What has enabled the festival to flourish?

“The Opera House is a smart initiative bringing arts to an interested and motivated community,” said Larry Blumenfeld, the artistic adviser for the festival, who makes suggestions of musicians to pursue. “Also, there are a lot of creative people in the area. This sort of music appeals to them. Bringing great musicians to such a place usually works out well. It’s worth keeping in mind that these past few years have been very tough times for nonprofit organizations and the arts in general. We hope to continue to grow.”

Performing in the festival was an easy decision for Blue Hill native Bill McHenry, a tenor saxophonist who has become an in-demand musician in the New York jazz scene.

“It works out well with my summer vacation, and is only 40 minutes from my home,” explained McHenry, 30, who also performed at the festival last year. “I’m from Maine and I love playing in Maine.”

He also understands how the festival can draw the musicians that it has during its short history.

“Coming off some of those big festivals, people get the idea that it’d be nice to play up in Maine for a couple of days in the summer,” he said. “Also when [musicians] have a good experience, they’ll pass it on to a couple of others.”

McHenry performs on Friday with slide guitarist David Tronzo, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Ferber. He has performed with Gress and Ferber previously, and “it’s my first time playing with David, but I knew his music and I think the same goes for him.”

Also performing on Friday is Brazilian guitarist Luciana Souza and guitarist Romero Lubambo, who worked together on the Grammy-nominated album “Brazilian Duos.” McHenry is a fan of Souza’s, having played with her under Argentinean bandleader Guillermo Klein.

On Sunday, McHenry will lead the Maine Festival Band, a group he put together from the Maine Jazz Camp, held at the University of Maine at Farmington, where he has taught for the past seven years.

The group’s college-age members are alto saxophonist Sam Cauldwell, guitarist Ryan Baird, pianist Liz Kosack, bassist Adam Chilinski and drummer R.J. Miller.

In addition to his busy playing schedule, McHenry also privately tutors a small number of students. He knew Cauldwell and Kosack from teaching, and has used Miller as a substitute in his own quartet.

“The kids I’m playing with are playing at a professional level,” he said. “People are going to be very surprised when they hear them play.”

Since moving to Brooklyn a decade ago, McHenry has made a name for himself in New York, both as a sideman and as a leader of his own group.

New York Times critic Ben Ratliff wrote of him: “Any musician who works so effectively against a common language, and uses cliche so little in the process, is worth listening to. There are tons of young jazz saxophonists out there pursuing ideas of harmony and structure and rhythm, but he has something rare going for him. He has a sound. McHenry is a fresh new voice: He can play with unorthodox structure and get as free as you want, but he maintains a ripe, lovely tone straight out of the 1950s. Lyrical is probably the most overused word in jazz criticism, but if anyone deserves the word, McHenry is the one.”

Among those he’s played with are bassists Reid Anderson and Chris Lightcap, singer Rebecca Martin and pianists Ethan Iverson and Ben Waltzer. His own quartet features Anderson and guitarist Ben Monder, and he also leads a new ensemble featuring Duane Eubanks on trumpet. He’s recorded more than a dozen albums.

He also spent one year in Barcelona, Spain, teaching and performing with pianist Ben Waltzer at the Pipa Club in Placa Real. It was there that he recorded “Jazz is Where You Find It,” the first of many CDs that he has recorded for Barcelona’s Fresh Sound label. He still goes back a couple of times a year.

Europe is a welcoming place for jazz musicians.

“A lot of musicians who can’t find enough work here go over and have found more success in Europe,” he said. “People in Europe are more willing to accept art. The governments there subsidize art, which makes it more accessible to people, who don’t have to pay a lot of money to go to a concert.”

McHenry recently got to play a date with two of his jazz heroes, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian, at the legendary New York City jazz club The Village Vanguard. McHenry also got Motian to play on his new album, “The Bill McHenry Quartet Featuring Paul Motian.”

McHenry, the son of a musician mother and an artist-architect father, got interested in music at a young age.

“His sense of design and my mother’s musical sense are my two biggest influences,” he said.

McHenry started playing sax in grade school, but found his destiny some years later.

“It was natural, since I was playing sax and pursuing music, that I’d discover Charlie Parker and realize that the world of jazz is where I wanted to go,” he said.

With little opportunity for a budding jazz musician in Maine in the mid-1980s, McHenry attended high school at Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. He went on to the New England Conservatory in 1990, studying with George Garzone, Jimmy Giuffre and John McNeil, before moving to New York in 1992.

Jazz is generally thought of as one of the few truly American art forms. Yet it’s been well received overseas as well.

“It’s not based on words, so it’s not limited to English,” McHenry said. “Jazz embraces music from other cultures, so it’s only natural that other cultures would embrace jazz. Jazz deals with all sorts of music at a high level, so those who like music will appreciate jazz.”

The schedule for the Deer Isle Jazz Festival is as follows: Friday, Stonington Opera House, the quartet of guitarist David Tronzo, tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Ferber, singer Luciana Souza with guitarist Romero Lubambo; Saturday, Stonington Opera House, pianist Fred Hersh in trio with Gress and Ferber, with Souza appearing as well; Sunday, Reach Performing Arts Center, the Joe Lovano Quartet and the Maine Festival Band (all shows start at 7 p.m.)

Reservations may be made by calling the Opera House box office at 367-2788.