A bountiful day at the Indy Jazz Fest also brought beautiful weather in tow, and the combination of new and aging talent proved stimulating from first to last.

The sentimental buzz about Saturday's lineup focused on hometown star Freddie Hubbard, who took his trumpet and a host of ideas about how to extend the bop tradition east to New York City about 50 years ago and never looked back.

Limited today (because of lip and other health problems) to occasional dollops of flugelhorn in fitfully glowing melodic phrases, Hubbard provoked both anxiety and excitement as the central figure in an almost all-star group.

Directed by trumpeter David Weiss, who provided arrangements of Hubbard tunes, the band included alto saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding, trombonist Curtis Fuller, drummer Joe Chambers, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson and pianist George Cables.

The band was completed by Luques Curtis, who started the afternoon playing bass with Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band. (Opening the festival Saturday, trumpeter Gonzalez showed the durability of a style blending Afro-Cuban rhythms and straight-ahead hard bop, in which Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" was a standout.)

At this point, Hubbard's return to active performing doesn't seem to have legs. But perhaps it only sounds like he's playing with pain.

No doubt one can appreciate the heart and the musicality the 70-year-old legend puts into his playing. Still, it requires "listening through" some of the awkwardness of execution and gingerly technique to notice what tentative but genuine strength he is able to lend to his music.

Weiss's arrangements Saturday included "Red Clay," "One of Another Kind" and "Up Jumped Spring." That last one limped into action, but these sturdy settings are designed to stay intact no matter how much or little Hubbard is able to contribute to them. It's pleasing to note the vitality remaining in the work of Hubbard's old homey Spaulding.

Elsewhere, youth was served on Saturday's stages: Chicago singer Stephanie Browning made a lively impression with her mature, R&B-inflected voice and a good deal of sassy elan. American Pianists Association jazz Fellow Dan Tepfer showed the adeptness of his long-running trio (with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Richie Barshay) in an intense set of originals and a classic each by John Coltrane and Bud Powell.

As the sun-splashed, temperate evening came on gently, Dave Koz picked up the veteran mantle in the smooth-jazz area. The versatile saxophonist with the creamy, full-throated tone fronted a band that matched him in showmanship.

He placed showcases for his bass guitarist, two percussionists and keyboardist-musical director (Brian Simpson) deftly amid ensemble displays that ranged from slinky ballads to pulsating funk extravaganzas.

Kenny Phelps and the band Hananeel followed Koz on the smaller stage, and showed how stirring homegrown funk can be. The group dug into the much-admired drummer's beat while floating on a lush, dappled carpet of synthesized sound, infused with ceaseless electric-bass vigor by younger brother Keith Phelps.