FREEPORT — Freeport Community Library is celebrating National Jazz Appreciation and National Poetry Month Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m.

The evening’s festivities will kick off with a great mix of sultry and foot-thumpin’ jazz, a news release said.

The musicians providing the jam to this sweet evening include: Nancy Bowker with her soulful, smooth vocals; Thom ‘The Hurricane’ Hanes, whose roots as a harmonica player extend deep into the South; and composer/guitarist Jamie Pearson who began his musical life playing in British punk bands of the early 1990s, later touring England and Ireland with a variety of ska bands accompanied on piano by his wife (and artist) Wren Pearson.

Following the jazz jam will be poetry readings by Merriconeag Waldorf student Skyler Samuelson, who competed in this year’s statewide Poetry Out Loud contest; Gary Lawless, poet, publisher and co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick; and Maine poet and Vietnam veteran Terry Grasse.

A unique duet created especially for the evening titled “Not Your Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons” features haikus written and read by accomplished thespian Pam Blake while accompanied on cello by Robin Jellis, a professor at the Portland Conservatory of Music.

The annual “grand finale” to the evening is an “open mic” opportunity for audience members to share a poem of their own or recite a favorite poet’s work.

A light buffet is included and it’s all free of charge.

For more information, visit www.freeportlibrary.