Duke of Dixieland Al Hirt Will Blow His Horn

Al Hirt, trumpeter of no uncertain strength and polish, is one of those jazz musicians who doesn’t get a lot of respect, and it’s partly his own fault. He never cared about staying abreast of jazz evolution, but has been quite content--and rewarded--to plumb the archival New Orleans tradition.

But the fact is, this cat can play, and once you set aside any residual stylistic reservations, the musical truth will out. This Sunday, Hirt and clarinetist Pete Fountain, another keeper of the “trad” jazz flame and cohort since the ‘50s, will hit the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Born Alois Maxwell Hirt in New Orleans in 1922, he put his talents to good, diverse use, playing in the New Orleans Symphony, with the Dorsey Brothers, and finally with the group that made him famous, the Dukes of Dixieland. An ambassador of the old New Orleans sound (as opposed to the post-’80s New Orleans sound of the Marsalis brothers), Hirt beamed into America’s living rooms on the Johnny Carson show and made albums that heralded the kinetic, archaic style of Dixieland while the jazz world forged ahead into its own hazy future.

In the ‘60s, Hirt appeared alongside such artists as guitarist Chet Atkins and actress Ann-Margret, while maintaining roots with jazz tradition. In the Thousand Oaks “Legends of New Orleans” concert, expect to hear jazz harking back to a seminal era in jazz history, when spirits were high, soloists were tumbling all over each other, and intellectuality was kept under wraps.

“Legends of New Orleans,” with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain, Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. $24-48. (805) 449-2787.

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Symphonic Theme: For its second program of the season, the Santa Barbara Symphony, led by Gisele Ben-Dor, brings an unusual program to the Arlington Theater this weekend that taps into a cultural pulse in town.

Santa Barbara’s arts organizations have sometimes been known for their collaborative efforts, coordinating concepts around town. These days, you can find the kindly face of Anne Frank on banners on State Street, a theme revolving around an impressive exhibit at the Karpeles Library, in which Frank’s claustrophobic quarters have been reconstructed.

Another Frank-related exhibit is currently at the Manne Gallery.

The musical component arrives at the Arlington, when the Symphony performs Michael Tilson-Thomas’ 35-minute work “From the Diary of Anne Frank.”

Conductor-composer Tilson-Thomas wrote the work on a commission from UNICEF in 1990, a few years before he took charge of the San Francisco Symphony. At its premiere in Philadelphia, Audrey Hepburn read the excerpts from Frank’s diary, which the composer had given a musical corollary. In Santa Barbara, the passages will be read by actress Millie Perkins, who starred in the 1959 film “The Diary of Anne Frank,” directed by George Stevens.

Framing Tilson-Thomas’ timely piece on the program will be orchestral favorites of different eras: the large-scale adaptation of Samuel Barber’s elegiac Adagio for Strings, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony.

Santa Barbara Symphony, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. $17-39. (805) 963-4408.