Big Band music lovers who need a...

Big Band music lovers who need a fix can get their kicks Friday when musician and songwriter Bobby Troup is honored during a University of the Pacific jazz band concert at Torrance High School.

Troup, 74, is perhaps best remembered for his pop hit “Route 66.” But the singer and composer also was an accomplished jazz musician who played piano, recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra and worked as a staff songwriter for band leader Tommy Dorsey. His songs “Snooty Little Cutie,” “Baby, Baby All the Time” and “Brand New Dolly,” which he recorded with Basie, were popular fare in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Troup will be the guest of honor during a two-hour performance by the 23-piece University of the Pacific band, which will feature the Big Band tunes from the 1930s to today, director Mike Vax said. “This will not be just an imitation of 1939,” he said.

Vax will lead the group of young musicians in a varied program that includes jazz pieces “Cherokee” and “In the Mood,” Broadway numbers such as “On the Street Where You Live” and the pop tune “On Broadway.”

The band will stay true to some of the original arrangements performed by the Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras, and play contemporary works by Los Angeles-based composers, Vax said.

Vax, who heads the Jazz Studies program at the University of the Pacific, is a trumpet player with his own varied jazz and classical music resume.

He has performed or recorded with jazz greats such as Stan Kenton and Freddy Hubbard, the Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras, and has played on more than 25 albums and with symphony pops orchestras nationwide.

The independent University of the Pacific in Stockton, one of California’s oldest institutions of higher learning, boasts some musical success stories such as alumnus Dave Brubeck, composer of “Take Five.”

Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. The auditorium is at 2200 W. Carson St., Torrance. Information: (310) 285-9211.