Numerous local music aficionados often describe various musical events and gatherings around the state as “what The Jazz Fest used to be”—the implication being that the Jazz & Heritage Festival has outgrown its authenticity and become a homogenized, corporatized, overblown plaything of the masses.

To some degree, this beef is valid. What was once a casual affair attended mostly by locals has grown into a colossal undertaking that swamps all 26 acres of the Fair Grounds' infield. Of the...