The Roller-Coaster Ride of the New American Orchestra : Music: Keeping a big band together is tough in these times, but this ensemble will mark 11 years of togetherness at a Royce Hall concert.

The problems involved in keeping a big band together have plagued musicians ever since the swing era ended. Where do you find jobs for 16 men? Whom do you commission to write for them and how do you pay them? Where can you travel, given the huge cost of plane fares? How do you keep the ensemble racially integrated?

Multiply these questions by four or five and you have an idea of what has confronted the Foundation for New American Music, a nonprofit group under whose auspices the New American Orchestra, then 84 strong, started its roller-coaster life 11 years ago this week at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The orchestra will celebrate its anniversary tonight at Royce Hall, which will henceforth be its regular home. “Acoustically, it’s the ideal place for us,” says its director, Jack Elliott. “Also, after dropping down to 60, we’ve added some strings to bring it back up to 72, so we’ll have the depth we need.”

Under Elliott’s aegis, the orchestra has introduced 83 new works. Best remembered are Patrick Williams’ “Concerto for Orchestra,” which has been utilized in several forms since its premiere at the first concert in 1979, and two works by Manny Albam featuring saxophonists Phil Woods and Bud Shank. Best forgotten is a piece by Claus Ogerman written to feature trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. (“He didn’t write it to show Freddie’s strengths--well, we played it anyway, and it was a disaster.”)

Tonight’s program, typically, will mix pop, jazz and “legitimate” elements. Saxophonist Michael Brecker will make his first appearance with the NAO. Dave Grusin, joined by such sidemen as Harvey Mason, Abe Laboriel, Tom Scott and Sal Marquez, will play excerpts from his film scores. There will be three newly commissioned compositions: pianist Tom Garvin’s “Day at the River,” Patrick Williams’ “Overture to a Time” and a movement from Clare Fischer’s “Prelude and Fugue for Orchestra.”

The last half hour, Elliott says, “will be a salute to the 50th anniversary of Broadcast Music Inc.--a huge medley sung by Patti Austin, Jack Jones, Kenny Rankin and Phil Perry.”

The BMI medley clearly is the orchestra’s quid pro quo, since that organization contributed “a big donation.” Such deals are essential to the ensemble’s survival.

“That we are still alive after 11 years is due to sheer perseverance,” Elliott says, “and to the devotion and help of a core group of financial supporters, along with major funding from a series of sponsors, including a Connecticut life insurance company, then AT&T;, and most recently Sanyo-Fisher, who will present us with a New York orchestra Sept. 8 in Avery Fisher Hall.”

Because no symphony orchestra gives composers the opportunities the eclectic NAO has offered, its existence is important, even though some critics have questioned its claim to be a symphonic jazz ensemble. (Elliott dislikes that label, claims he still can’t find the right name tag, and wishes he could just refer to it as “the band.”)

“We’re in a Catch-22 situation. During the Reagan and Bush administrations, the changes in the tax laws and the arts endowment situation have created enormous difficulties in fund-raising. We are told ‘Go to the private sector,’ but meanwhile they’ve taken away the inducement to the private sector to donate!”

Another problem has been that of keeping the orchestra integrated. Recently Elliott talked with bassist John Clayton about keeping a line open to the black community. Clayton says: “I’m excited about it. I feel Jack is a doer, not a talker, and he really wants minorities represented. Some time in the next year I’ll be writing something for the orchestra, and playing too.”

Finding new guest soloists who are willing to rehearse and perform is another constant challenge. Some of Elliott’s fondest memories involve Sarah Vaughan. “She was foremost among the people who were truly supportive in those difficult early years. She came to the Chandler and worked for nothing. She was back there for our fifth anniversary, the night we had Quincy Jones; that night she sang with James Ingram. It’s people like Sarah who have given us hope--and believe me, it hasn’t always been easy to keep hoping.”