JAZZ REVIEWS : NEW AMERICAN ORCHESTRA AT PAVILION

The New American Orchestra celebrated its seventh anniversary Friday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a program befitting the group’s designed lack of musical direction.

Drawing on its members’ symphonic, jazz and pop backgrounds, the New American Orchestra, under the skillful direction of Jack Elliott, performed from all three of the musical genres and featured guest artists Maureen McGovern, Stan Getz and Ray Charles.

While singer-pianist Charles was certainly the SRO crowd’s favorite, it was the orchestra’s presentation of Jack Hayes’ “Phoenix Fanfare,” Claus Ogerman’s “Symphonic Dances” and Bill Holman’s Concerto for Tenor, Sax and Orchestra that provided the most substantial music.

Each of the three pieces drew successfully from a variety of musical sources, but the Holman Concerto offered the most adventuresome work. A difficult piece that suffered from lack of rehearsal, the concerto nonetheless showcased Getz’s enormous talents in a richly diverse series of textural settings orchestrated by Holman.

McGovern, in a brief series of pop selections, showed herself to be a fine vocalist. A purity of tone and solid interpretations made her renditions of “Music in the Mirror” and Peter Allen’s “I Could Have Been a Sailor” delights. A version of “Blue Interlude” was magnificent.

Charles, who was given the Foundation for New American Music anniversary award, performed some of his best-known hits, including “Lucky Old Sun” and “Georgia on My Mind,” the latter piece featuring Getz. An impromptu version of a blues, as well as the standard “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” were particularly good. His classic rendition of “America the Beautiful,” which closed the concert, gave credence to notions that our national anthem should be changed--to his version.