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FOXBORO- Patriot Place is a long way from New Orleans, but the sounds of jazz will be heard in a variety of forms there this weekend.

The first Patriot Place Jazz Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday afternoons on Patriot Place Plaza, just outside Gillette Stadium.

The free festival features a line-up of local bands and music ranging from Dixieland to swing, world, modern and early jazz, and funk.

Rick Foster, an Attleboro resident and Sun Chronicle reporter, organized the event, and his band, The Dixie Diehards, will host. The Diehards generally play for people 50 and older, but the little ones sometimes start dancing because it's music they may not be used to hearing, he said.

"I've been involved over the past several years either with publicity or helping to organize the Early Spring Banjo Fling, a very successful grassroots traditional jazz convention at the Mansfield Holiday Inn every April," said Foster. "It was so much fun I thought, 'Why not bring it to the general public audience in a more open venue?'" Seven bands will perform at the jazz fest, and Foster said he chose them because he has either worked with them before or is a fan. He hosted Sunday Night Jazz at Steve's Backstage Pass in Taunton and met many of them there.

"On a more mellow note, I have known Adam Goldberg since he was in college. He will bring out his third album later this year. I refer to him as a Catskills Billy Joel - he has a lot of personality, can cover just about anything, writes a lot of good original songs as well, and is a great entertainer," Foster said.

Goldberg, a piano and vocals teacher based in Foxboro, will close out Saturday with cover songs of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin and "Breakdown" by Tom Petty, as well as original songs - including some from a soon to be released album called "Delusions of Adequency."

"A lot of people don't want to hear only originals the first time they hear (a band)," said Goldberg, "It's good to mix it up a little bit."

He said he gets his inspiration from personal life experiences, and writes love, hate and break-up songs as well as songs about faith. Many of these songs are on his first album "Back From War," which he produced in 2000, the same year he graduated from Emerson College. He majored in visual and media arts with a concentration in audio production, and grew up in a musical family.

Goldberg will be the only solo and rock 'n' roll artist at the jazz fest. He and the bands will sell their CDs.

"Jazz has its constituency here like everywhere else," Foster said. "It's not as popular as it was during the '30s, '40s and '50s, but it has a tenacious following, and some really good players throughout New England, especially in the Boston area."

Food will be for sale at CBS Scene, Baskin-Robbins and Davio's, which are within walking distance of the plaza.

Patriot Place marketing manager April Worden enthusiastically supported the festival by arranging meetings between bands and the technical people, Foster said.

"It's an unusual opportunity to immerse yourself in a number of types of jazz music all in one place," he said. "And, of course, it's all free. It's a good suggestion for where to take Dad on Father's Day, too - June 21." Here are the lineups:

Saturday

Roy Scott Big Band: 55 musicians from Boston and South Shore playing swing, jazz and dance - noon

The Andy James Band: contemporary blues - 1:20 p.m.

The Dixie Diehards Jazz Band: traditional New Orleans style - 2:40 p.m.

Adam Goldberg: pop piano - 4 p.m.

Sunday

Swing 7: all-female group playing swing, jazz, big band and blues, including Mary Happ of Foxboro - 11:30 a.m.

Steve Tapper: flute, recorders, bass guitar, and Brazilian music - 12:30 p.m.

Little Mahrud Jazz Orchestra: 10-piece jazz ensemble - 1:45 p.m.

TARA VOCINO is a student at Wheaton College in Norton, and she can be reached at vocino_tara@wheatonma.edu.