Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz remembers getting the phone call from Valerie Coleman in 1997. Both were New York-based graduate students in music, and Coleman, a flutist, was looking to put together a wind quintet. To Spellman-Diaz, it sounded promising, a helpful step on her way to a career as an orchestra musician.

But Coleman had bigger ideas. She wanted to assemble of group of musicians of color who could not only play the standard wind quintet repertoire but open that tradition to new voices and influences.

"She thought, I'm going to put these people together, and we are going to start a quintet that's going to change the way chamber music is put together,'' Spellman-Diaz recalls. "What I thought was, it's something fun to do on the weekends.''

The group, Imani Winds, makes its second visit to Jordan Hall tonight as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston. After 13 years, it has evolved from being a side project into a thriving, full-time ensemble, one whose work ranges from the greatest hits of the wind repertoire to arrangements of songs by jazz singer Josephine Baker to music by Coleman and French horn player Jeff Scott. Its five members - all African-American or Latino - have taken one of the squarest ensembles in chamber music and made it into something vibrant, accessible, and fun.

"We all thought, we'll get out of school, we'll take auditions, and hopefully we'll land somewhere in an orchestra in a nice city,'' says Spellman-Diaz. "But it just worked out that this group caught on, and we worked really hard to make it something that could last and stand on its own. We're extremely proud to be a part of it. It's much bigger than the five of us - this is an entity unto itself now.''

From the group's inception, they've focused on the importance of serving as role models, particularly for other musicians of color. Spellman-Diaz explains that one thing they try to embody is sacrifice: a selfless attitude that places the group's priorities front and center, over individual desires.

"You have to give up your sense of self in order to make the group function at its top level,'' she says. "We're always working with kids, from preschool all the way up to college, because everyone needs to see a group with this level of commitment.''

And when it comes to music, she continues, that kind of sacrifice ceases to be a matter of duty and becomes a thing of joy. That word comes up repeatedly as Spellman-Diaz talks about the animating spirit of Imani Winds, which she illustrates not in the language of race but in a more universal way.

"Whatever this performance technique is, the number one thing it has in it is joy. We're practically laughing with each other as we play on stage. That might look to some people like a farce, but it's really based on genuine respect and love.''

That joyous engagement is something that every musician starts out with, but it's often wrung out during the trials of classes, competitions, and endless practice. "It's not automatic,'' says Spellman-Diaz of the fulfillment part. "You have to look for your connection to the music.''

One of the ways Imani nurtures that sense of connection is by collaborating with performers and composers outside of classical music.

At tonight's concert Imani will be playing with vibraphonist and composer Stefon Harris in his "The Anatomy of a Box.'' The piece, one of 10 Imani began commissioning in 2007 to mark its 10th anniversary, mixes written-out music with blocks of improvisation, something that the Imanis are still trying to get comfortable with. Harris, who trained as a classical musician but went into jazz, has developed a method for teaching classical musicians to improvise, so the piece "was a real serious school time for us,'' says Spellman-Diaz. "And that kind of learning takes place every time we play it.''

Also on the bill are pieces by Coleman and Scott, as well as traditional wind quintet works - in this case, music by Villa-Lobos and Elliott Carter. While the group loves to stretch its boundaries, the oboist says, they always make sure to stay in contact with their roots.

"That is the grounding,'' Spellman-Diaz says. "And so all that stretching the boundaries is all about coming home, too. You stretch so that when you come back to the original stuff you have something new to say.''