The first time Harley White put on a WhiteNoise Festival, the event was a party.

It was actually a celebration of the composer and bassist's 40th birthday. So he put in calls to various musicians he knew from the many bands he had played with and they all turned up.

It reunited Papa's Culture, the before-its-time eclectic pop band he cofounded in 1991 with Blake Davis. White's elusive hip-hop group, the Original Heads, also found their way to the gig, and the rock-based group Seventy he was in with guitarist Vinnie Montoya also played.

That elective, expansive spirit has fueled subsequent WhiteNoise Festivals, and it has grown in size and scope, eventually spreading over a couple of days at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

This year, WhiteNoise has a more contained – though no less wide-ranging – event planned Sunday at the Torch Club.

Scheduled performers include The Broun Fellinis, Elements Brass Band, DJ Larry Rodriguez, Aaron King, Jimmy Pailer, Electropoetic Coffee, Mike Farrell, The Addict Merchants, The Sizzling Sirens Burlesque Experience, Exquisite Corp, The CUF, Prieta, Sankofa, The Cave Women, The Yarddogs and The Harley White Jr. Orchestra.

White's jazz orchestra is a 10-person horn-based unit playing in the tradition of swinging big bands led by Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. It's an ambitious concept, as White knows all too well.

"We're still not hitting what I want to hit, but we're getting closer to it," White said recently.

"Our mission statement would be to play the blues, but not in any traditional way, we're looking back, but the reason we're looking back is to look forward," White added. His explanation fits much of jazz, which honors a tradition while simultaneously extending the form.

"I want to be around sophisticated cats who can play like that, and the music that they play is orchestral blues," White said.

White said it's been a challenge finding musicians who can pull the dynamics off. There are those who can play in forward-thinking music but aren't interested in history, and there are others who know their historical references but don't have the progressive edge White desires.

"This is not your grandpa's swing band," the typically candid White said.

He sees the band making a jazz record with DJ remixes on it, not a revolutionary concept these days, but it still could send mixed messages to some.

"No. 1 , the remix is very musical, but also I want my record to hit the way records hit now, just from a production standpoint," White said.

As much as he loves the Duke Ellington songbook, White is trying to gently steer the band away from the master.

"One of the challenges when I started was to write the Ellington out of our book," he said. "And, in no way am I trying to compare my music to Ellington's."

What he's trying to do is create more original music in the great tradition.

"Slowly, I've put my arrangements into the book and other guys' arrangements into the book, and some it has worked and some of it hasn't," White said. "Some are still works in progress but that's a huge part of what we're doing – trying to find our way now."

Guitarist Aaron King, who brings his blues-based trio to the festival, appreciates White's efforts at building the festival and nurturing musicians.

"There's a wealth of talent here that goes unnoticed. You have all these great musicians who play around the world, around the country, and they're toiling away doing their art and people don't recognize it."

King acknowledges fellow guitarist Ross Hammond (playing the WhiteNoise Festival with his Electropoetic Coffee project) along with White for creating musical events.

"I respect people like Harley and Ross. Those guys are musicians' musicians," King said. "It's an honor when a fellow musician asks you to play on his bill."

What: This all-day music festival, curated by Harley White, brings together a wide range of Northern California-based musical acts performing to benefit the Roberts Family Development Center in North Sacramento.

When: Noon to midnight Sunday

Where: The Torch Club, 904 15th St., Sacramento

Tickets: $10

Information: (916) 443-2797, www.torchclub.net

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Call the Bee's Marcus Crowder at (916) 321-1120.THE WHITENOISE FESTIVAL

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