Old Faithful Sax man Tony Williams stays true to the traditions of jazz, and at 77 he continues to pass them onto new generations of Philadelphia musicians.

The late-summer air outside Germantown's Club La Rose was hot and still. The streets were mostly empty, the stores closed.

Then the soulful sound of a saxophone pierced the stagnant swelter like a crisp breeze.

For 35 years and counting, Tony Williams has spent Monday nights bringing old-school jazz to Philadelphia. There may have been different backup players and various venues over the decades, but the passion that Williams, 77, brings to his music has remained constant.

Inside the cool, dark club, the men wore ties, the ladies, hats. They watched Williams, in a tan suit perched on a stool in front of a grand piano, playing each song as if he'd never played it before.

"Nobody I met all through the years can blow the sax like he can," said Al Brealand, 94, a lifelong jazz fan. "He's one of the best."

Williams is more than a jazz musician. He's also a dedicated teacher and promoter of what he calls "the only American art form." Determined to teach the old ways to a new generation, he cofounded the Mount Airy Cultural Center, a 30-year-old organization that offers free music lessons to dedicated young musicians.

"If people like Tony weren't around, I don't know where jazz would be," said Bob Perkins, a respected jazz radio personality. "He's been a mentor to many people in his lifetime."

Williams and some of his students past and present will perform at the 18th annual Tony Williams Scholarship Jazz Festival, which will run from Friday through Sept. 1 at the Holiday Inn in Fort Washington. Special guests will include Grammy-winner Cissy Houston as well as comedian Bill Cosby, a jazz drummer and longtime Williams friend. Festival proceeds will fund scholarships for MACC students.

Kim Tucker, a music coordinator working with this year's festival whose mother, Sue Ford, was a longtime supporter of local jazz musicians, summed up Williams this way: "Tony cares."

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Williams prefers what Perkins calls "straight-ahead" jazz, but notes that jazz "is not basic. It can never be basic." His playing style has been compared to John Coltrane's and Stanley Turrentine's.

But Williams said every jazz musician is different because of the improvisation.

"You have a chance to express it how you want to. Where you come from, how you jumped rope, it all gets in there," Williams said. "This music gives you freedom to express yourself. Everybody that breathes can have something to say."