MUSIC : Return to the Old Days : Woodstock alumnus Stephen Stills will be among the artists performing in a concert Sunday. The event also represents an effort to restore a positive image to the city’s parks.

Woodley Park is a long way from Woodstock--a few thousand miles and a couple of generations.

The gap may narrow Sunday when an impressive lineup of musicians provide free entertainment at the park in the third annual 97.1 KLSX Classic Jam. A Woodstock alumnus, Stephen Stills, will be part of the event.

“I think it’s kind of neat,” Stills said. “It’s more of the old thing.”

Stills will perform with his untitled blues band instead of with more familiar mates David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Other acts include Greg Lake, vocalist and guitarist from Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Kansas, and Dave Mason, who recently announced he will join Fleetwood Mac.

“I’m excited about it,” said Lake, who will play an acoustic set for the first time in public. “It seemed like a great thing to do.”

The concert also represents an effort by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks to restore a positive image to the city’s parks.

“Our whole push is to rebuild Los Angeles the recreation way,” said Louise Capone, a department director. “We want people to see the parks the way they used to be.”

Stills sympathizes with that goal.

“There’s nothing for kids to do these days,” he said. “There should be more events like this.”

The concert gives Stills a chance to jam with his less recognizable colleagues. He expects to play for about 45 minutes.

“I love this band,” he said. “I did 18 months with Dave and Graham and no drums, and the first time I got together with a band again, it was like I had died and gone to heaven. I move with the pulse of a band.”

Stills said the group has compiled nearly enough songs to make an album, but no deal has been officially signed.

“I haven’t finished it yet,” he said, “and that’s because I always like to leave a little room to make changes at the end. That’s something Neil Young taught me how to do.”

With his acoustic set, Lake is going in the other direction. He will sing three songs, including Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s signature hit, “Lucky Man.”

“I wouldn’t want to do more songs acoustically than that,” Lake said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to listen to someone play an hour and one half of acoustic.”

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Lake moved to Los Angeles six months ago, and, along with other band members, has been putting together a four-CD box set that will be released in November: “Return of the Manticore,” commemorating Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s 25th anniversary.

He was only 12 in 1959 when he wrote “Lucky Man,” and said it almost didn’t make it on vinyl.

“Someone said we needed one more song for the album,” Lake recalled. “There were blank stares around the studio, so I finally said that I had a folk song on acoustic we could do. We kept adding things to it, but still thought it was just an album filler. Its success was surprising.”

Kansas has also done extremely well.

The band has sold more than 25 million records with such hits as “Carry On, Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.”

Mason’s career began with Traffic hits such as “Feelin’ Alright,” and his solo credits include “We Just Disagree” and “Only You Know and I Know.”

Scott Segelbaum, KLSX promotion director, said he expects about 25,000 people at Sunday’s concert.

In the past two years, the Classic Jam has been held at a park in Fountain Valley in Orange County. Among the performers were the Doobie Brothers, Peter Frampton and Jefferson Starship.

“We’ve always been interested in doing this in the Valley,” he said.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: 97.1 KLSX Classic Jam.

Location: Woodley Park, 6330 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys.

Hours: Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Price: Admission and parking are free.

Call: (800) 448-KLSX.