Spokane Symphony offers tribute to Big Bands of ’40s

The Spokane Symphony will be converted into the biggest of Big Bands on Saturday with its SuperPops concert, “Big Band Salute to the 1940s.”

And leading the Allied charge will be guest conductor Jeff Tyzik and guest drummer Dave Mancini.

Expect to hear plenty of familiar tunes from the World War II era, associated with many of the big names of the day:

Glenn Miller – “String of Pearls” and “Song of the Volga Boatmen,” and a medley called “Miller Memories.”

Duke Ellington – “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Satin Doll” and “Take the A Train.”

Count Basie – “One O’Clock Jump” and a medley titled “Lullaby for Basie.”

In addition, you’ll hear “St. Louis Blues March” and an Armed Forces-themed medley. Most are performed in Tyzik’s own arrangements.

Tyzik lives in Rochester, N.Y., where he has been the principal pops conductor for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for more than 15 years.

He’s a familiar figure on podiums in the Northwest, since he is the principal pops conductor for the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver (B.C.) Symphony Orchestra.

Tyzik is also familiar to Spokane audiences, having been a guest artist at a 1998 SuperPops concert – as a trumpeter. Yes, he’s also a world-class jazz trumpet player, who got his start in Chuck Mangione’s band.

Mancini is a well-known jazz drummer who has provided the propulsive rhythm for dozens of big names, including Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney and Diahann Carroll.

A frequent collaborator with Tyzik, Mancini is the author of the instruction book “Drum Set Fundamentals” and a busy artist/clinician who does drumming workshops at colleges around the country.

He’ll be featured in the “Drummer’s Medley,” which will include the classic number, “Sing, Sing, Sing.”