Big-Band Sounds Alive at Hollywood Roosevelt

“Big bands are not dinosaurs. There’s still an audience for them,” says Bill Holman, who leads his own orchestra and who has written arrangements and compositions over the years for Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and Doc Severinsen.

Holman gets plenty of agreement from Diane Varga, the Los Angeles jazz producer who is the main thrust behind “Best of the Big Bands of ‘91,” an eight-week series of Monday night concerts in the 300-seat Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel.

The series, which began this week with a performance by Bill Berry’s L.A. Band, runs through Aug. 19 and will also feature groups led by Holman, Gerald Wilson and Bob Florence, among others.

“I want to keep big bands alive,” says Varga, who is co-producing the series with Music Media Associates, Jazzlink magazine and the hotel.

“There hasn’t been a local series in a club since the Biltmore’s Grand Avenue Bar stopped booking them last year. We have all these incredible players--many of the members of these bands are leaders themselves--that want to play and I wanted to give them a chance to do just that. And I think people will support them.”

So far, she’s right. Berry’s band drew a near-capacity crowd Monday.

The schedule: the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut with Barbara Morrison, Monday; Buddy Collette’s Orchestra, July 15; Florence’s Limited Edition, July 22; Ann Patterson’s Maiden Voyage, July 29; Wilson’s Orchestra of the ‘90s, Aug. 5; Holman, Aug. 12, and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Aug. 19. The shows start at 7:30 p.m. Information: (818) 784-3752.

More Big Bands: Berry’s L.A. Band appears at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at Times Mirror Central Court of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as part of the museum’s free Summer Jazz on the Plaza series. Also on tap: Capp-Pierce, July 21, Tom Talbert’s Orchestra, Aug. 4, and Holman, Aug. 18. . . . Talbert also plays a free show at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Wadsworth Theater in Westwood.

Rim Shots: Photographs of Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, books, posters and record jackets are all part of “Bebop, Hard Bop and Avant Garde: Classic African-American Music 1940-1970,” an exhibition running at the William Grant Still Art Center (2520 West View St.), through Aug. 4. . . . Unreleased live tracks, rare interviews and commentary from musicians highlight a seven-week series on saxophone giant Coleman Hawkins, hosted by Jay Green and airing Thursdays, noon-2 p.m., on KPFK-FM (90.7). . . . “The John Hammond Years,” a 13-part series on the renowned producer-talent scout who was instrumental in recording such names as Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan, is airing Saturdays, 5 p.m., on KCRW-FM (89.9).