Maestro of the Mix : Conductor and ace pianist Lalo Schifrin deftly combines symphony and jazz.

The idea of blending jazz and classical music has been in Lalo Schifrin’s blood since he was a teen-ager in Buenos Aires.

“My father was for 35 years the concert master of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic,” says Schifrin. The acclaimed Argentine pianist-composer is known popularly for his theme to the TV show “Mission Impossible” and soundtracks to such Clint Eastwood films as “Dirty Harry” and “The Dead Pool,” and to jazz fans for his pianistic performances with Dizzy Gillespie in the early ‘60s.

“My first piano teacher was Enrique Barenbohm, father of Daniel Barenbohm,” the renowned concert pianist, says Schifrin. “My composition teacher, Juan Carlos Paz, was a disciple of Arnold Schoenberg, and introduced me to the music of (Olivier) Messiaen, (Pierre) Boulez and others in the classic avant-garde. At the same time, as a teen-ager, I was in the middle of an internal revolution, discovering jazz greats Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy, and other classicists like Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky.” The attraction for Schifrin was that these were all creative mavericks looking for new ways to express themselves musically.

Schifrin, a young and vibrant 62-year-old who lives with his wife, Donna, in Beverly Hills, has combined his love for these two wide swaths of music in a series of Atlantic Records albums that feature both outstanding jazz artists--among them bassist Ray Brown, trumpeter Jon Faddis and drummer Grady Tate--and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Jazz Meets the Symphony,” recorded in 1992, and “More Jazz Meets the Symphony,” made in 1993, find Schifrin mixing jazz rhythms and improvisation with the orchestra in a series of particularly effective works. These albums are built mainly around substantial suites that spotlight a single artist or composer, among them Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

When Schifrin, as both conductor and ace pianist, presents “Jazz Meets the Symphony” on Saturday at the Alex Theatre with the Glendale Symphony, he’ll offer some of these past opuses--”Sketches of Miles” and “Dizzy Gillespie Fireworks”--as well as the world premiere of a new suite, “Charlie Parker: The Firebird.”

This work uses fragments of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” interspersed with tunes by Parker, or associated with him, such as “April in Paris,” “Just Friends,” “Donna Lee” and “Parker’s Mood.” “Since Parker was a bird on fire in every sense, I think it’s an appropriate title,” says Schifrin.

The piece will be included on a new album, “Jazz Meets the Symphony III.” Due out in July, the recording features Paquito D’Rivera, the fine Cuban saxophonist who lives in New York. At the Alex, the spotlighted role goes to the acclaimed saxophonist James Moody, who came into jazz shortly after Parker and made seminal recordings with Davis, Gillespie and many others.

“Sketches of Miles,” in which Faddis will be the featured soloist on Saturday, utilizes some of the most popular pieces by the late trumpeter Davis, among them “All Blues,” “Four” and “So What.” The latter will be introduced by a lengthy solo from Brown, one of the premier improvisers on the string bass. The program will also offer such shorter pieces as “Brush Strokes,” in which drummer Tate trades phrases with the symphony “El Dorado,” another work that highlights Faddis, and “Old Friends,” with Moody.

Brown feels that Schifrin is right on the money with his musical mixtures. “I think he’s doing an excellent job of making jazz and the symphony palatable to the public,” says the bassist, whose latest recording is “Some of My Best Friends Are the Piano Players,” on Telarc. “The jazz people swing, the symphony doesn’t, everybody knows that, but Lalo’s found some ingredients so that it works.”

When he attended the Paris Conservatory in 1950, Schifrin’s dual fascination with jazz and classical music grew. In Paris, he took classes from Messiaen and studied privately with Rene Liebowitz, who had taught Boulez. And while he attended classical concerts, unlike most other students he also found time for jazz, catching such shows as Jazz at the Philharmonic, and playing with jazzmen such as tenor saxophonist Bobby Jaspar and French horn player David Amram. He was even offered a job with Chet Baker.

“The temptation was almost Faustian,” Schifrin says. “But I had exams to take and Chet was not living a very healthy lifestyle.”

Back in Buenos Aires after graduation, Schifrin led a big band that was heard by Gillespie, who told the pianist to call him “if I ever came to New York,” he says. But when he moved there in 1958, he didn’t. “I was a little scared to call.” Instead, Gillespie ultimately called him, offering him a job.

“I’ve often said that I had many teachers, but only one master: Dizzy. And I mean it,” he says.

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: Lalo Schifrin and the Glendale Symphony.

Location: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Hours: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Price: $12 to $50.

Call: (818) 500-8720, 243-2539.