By Siddhartha Mitter

The Tanglewood Jazz Festival program, which runs tonight through Sunday evening at the al fresco concert venue in Lenox, chooses to err on the side of elegance. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Au contraire: The highbrow picnic vibe of the place matches better with classic straight-ahead jazz delivery than it would with avant-garde deconstruction or wild honks and screams.

And when the purveyors are such legends of the music as Hank Jones, Ahmad Jamal, and Jimmy Heath, all of whom appear on Sunday night's double bill, there's nothing else to do but to fall into the embrace of their accumulated wisdom and artistry.

HUGH MASEKELA The iconic South African trumpeter is an elder statesman on the world music circuit. But his work in Afrobeat, Latin crossovers, and much else shouldn't obviate the fact that he is originally a jazz artist with a distinguished bebop history, particularly in his early years. He appears on a double bill tonight preceded by percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band. Considering Masekela is featured on Sanchez's 2005 album, "Do It!," a little all-star stage reunion seems a possibility (Tonight at 8 at Seiji Ozawa Hall. Tickets $17-$57.)