July 22 promises to be a jazz lover’s delight in the Lehigh Valley.

The Pennsylvania Jazz Collective presents its second annual “Christmas City Summer Jazz Festival,” 12:30 - 10 p.m. July 22 at the Bethlehem Municipal Ice Rink, 345 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem. There will be 12 groups on two stages. Festival headliner is Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra.

Schuman and Jazz Collective Artistic Director Alan Gaumer go back to the late 1970s when a twenty-something Gaumer needed a sub for a gig in upstate New York. The drummer recommended a teen-aged Schuman and Gaumer was “blown away by his playing.” The two have kept in touch since, including after Schuman relocated to Las Vegas.

Spyro Gyra plays the Blue Note in New York City on July 25, allowing for Schuman’s Bethlehem festival appearance.

Anchoring the rhythm section for Schuman’s set at the jazz fest is bassist Tony Marino and drummer Alex Ritz. Additional Lehigh Valley jazz musicians will appear throughout Schuman’s headliner set. Schuman will also appear as a soloist in the PaJazz Big Band set.

Schuman is most famously known as the keyboard player for Spyro Gyra, founded in 1974. Schuman has been keyboardist for Spyro Gyra since he was 17 (prior to the group’s first album in 1978). He has performed on all of Spyro Gyra’s albums and has written or co-written more than 50 Spyro Gyra compositions since the group’s album, “Catching the Sun” (1980).

However, Schuman has five critically-acclaimed CDs as a leader on his own, including “Extremities” (1990), “Schuman Nature” (2003), “Into Your Heart” (2003), “Deep Chill” (2006), “Reflections Over Time” (2010) and “Designated Planets” (2013).

Schuman has also released 10 other albums in collaboration with other musicians.

Schuman traces his music roots to his parents:

“Mom and Dad are the reason I’m a musician today.” His father was a bassist and his mother was a singer. “We weren’t the normal white family in Buffalo. We listened to African-American jazz all the time.”

The family knew all the jazz musicians in Buffalo, N.Y., and Schuman had his own band by the time he was 12.

Beyond his family, Schuman had “lots of influences. Lots of jazz, funk, pop stuff in the ‘70s: Tower of Power, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears. Weather Report blew my mind. Their music took me to the place I wanted to be.”

For his latest project, Schuman is “mostly steering away from electric stuff … fusion. I’m going back to my roots.” He and his trio performed April 18-22 at Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland. Schuman recorded every night and plans to put together an album. He explains, “I’m trying to create beautiful music as cheaply as possible. The cheapest way is to record it live.”

At the Christmas City event, Schuman says he expects to play standards with a select group of Lehigh Valley jazzers as the festival’s finale.

Other festival acts include: the Pat Kerssen Trio, winners of the “Pa Jazz Idol” youth competition; the Ernie Stadler Quintet; Neema; the Frank DiBussolo Trio; the Dave Roth Trio; Nancy & Spencer Reed; Pete Fluck & Craig Thatcher; the Eric Mintel Quartet; ESQ, and the PaJazz Big Band.

The Big Band features such local luminaries as Steve Lombardi, Eddie Severn, Rob Stoneback, Nelson Hill, Neal Wetzel, Tony Gairo, and Dan Wilkins.

According to its website, “The Pennsylvania Jazz Collective strives to expose and promote the diversity of jazz through education, outreach and performance encouraging participation in America’s unique art form.”

Gaumer puts it this way, “It’s our dream to unite the music community We want to unite all the players. Let’s help each other and take control. The word ‘collective,’ I mean that with all my heart.”

The Christmas City Jazz Festival is the third in the Collective’s yearly calendar of events. The group hosts the “Fall For Jazz” series in November, with a different instrument of focus each year and a nationally-known featured artist. In the spring, the Collective hosts the “Pa Jazz Idol” program, a competition for ensembles whose members are between the ages of 14 and 22.

Gaumer cites the strong support of the Christmas City Jazz Festival sponsors as well the event’s relationship with Moravian College as factors in the organization’s success.

The Christmas City Jazz Festival is free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be available for purchase. A free-will donation is being requested. The Ice Rink is an all-weather facility. The festival will be presented rain or shine.

Information: pajazzcollective.org