PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The improvised scales of the soprano saxophone dance off the soundproof walls, creating a mosaic of sound fused by African and Haitian rhythms.

This mélange of Caribbean, American and European cultures is not what one immediately associates with Haiti, an island nation known for chaos and konpa, the slow, timed Haitian meringue swayed by horns and electronic keyboards.

But the introduction of Creole jazz, and its growing popularity, represents part of this nation’s cultural rebirth. Here, inside a gingerbread architecture-inspired French cultural center rebuilt after the earthquake near the ruins of downtown, Creole jazz is having its moment as Thurgot Theodat’s weathered sax transforms the American-born art form across barriers of the Atlantic Ocean, language and culture.

“Creole jazz for me is all the rhythms that are related to the Caribbean culture,” bass player Richard Barbot, who has recorded with both jazz and konpa artists, said before joining Theodat in a practice jam session one recent morning. “Dancing isn’t bad, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that defines music.”

Jazz was born in the African-American South in the early 1900s — in many ways, the soundtrack to the nation’s political, social and economic history. Reinterpreted in Haiti, it has attracted a small but growing audience lured by the distinctive regional flavors: conga drums and traditional Voudou rhythms superimposed onto classical jazz chords.

But over the next seven days, Haiti will be all about jazz as the country hosts more than 20 bands representing 11 countries — including the Dominican Republic, Canada and the United States — during this year’s Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival. All the foreign bands are being flown in by their respective embassies’ cultural sections. Two of the artists live in South Florida.

“This is the only project they have where they can be together and not political,” festival founder and drummer Joel Widmaier said half-jokingly about the embassies, which contribute between $10,000 and $20,000 per band. “They are very proud to present their bands like their flags.”

Founded in 2007, the festival has taken place each year except for 2010, when Haiti’s devastating earthquake forced cancellation 10 days before showtime. It was the concept of Widmaier, who with wife Milena Sandler runs Fondation Haiti Jazz, which organizes the festival and other events during the year to promote jazz in Haiti.

“We want this festival to be one of the jazz festivals of the Caribbean, to bring jazz lovers to Haiti,” said Sandler, adding that it costs about $270,000 to stage the annual event.

In recent years, jazz festivals have become common in the Caribbean, with the island nations hoping the star-studded lineups will boost tourism revenues. Haiti festival supporters hope to reach that level of success someday for their tourist-starved nation, but for now, the festival has a broader mission: helping Haitian musicians, and developing interest in a kind of music introduced in 1915 during the U.S. occupation.

For years, that mission belonged to a select few including Widmaier’s dad, Herby Widmaier. A singer, he started playing jazz in the 1950s at Radio Haiti, a station owned by his dad, Ricardo Widmaier. In the 1970s, the younger Widmaier founded Radio Metropole, Haiti’s first FM station, and began promoting the music genre in his “Music from 10 to 11” weeknight English radio show. He and partner Gerald Merceron later promoted concerts in Haiti featuring the likes of singers Sarah Vaughan and George Benson and acoustic jazz bassists Ron Carter, among others.