Museum-Quality Riffs Courtesy of Smithsonian Band

The big band is jazz music’s symphony orchestra. Its standardized instrumental sections of saxophones, trombones, trumpets and rhythm are analogous to the strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion of the classical music orchestra.

In both instances, the instrumentation has been remarkably utilitarian. The lineup that served Mozart and Beethoven was equally functional for Stravinsky and Copland, just as the combination employed by Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson has worked for Bill Holman, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson and dozens of others.

The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, recognizing the historically vital role of the big jazz band and reveling in its diversity, has established itself as a repertory voice for the expression of the wide range of music written for the standard large jazz ensemble instrumentation.

On Friday night before a full house at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach, in a program presented by the Smithsonian Institution and the Public Corp. for the Arts, the orchestra touched upon styles ranging from those of Ellington and Count Basie to those of Nelson, Jimmie Lunceford and Woody Herman.

This demanded a firm grasp of subtle differences in ensemble style and rhythmic drive. Lunceford’s “Lunceford Special,” a classic example of buoyant, swing-era ensemble riffing, contrasted dramatically with the hard-grooving, in-the-pocket movement of Basie’s “Lil’ Darlin’.” And the lush saxophone textures of the Ellington/Billy Strayhorn “Le Sucrier Velors” called for timbre far different from the dark, tenor saxophone sound of Herman’s lyrical “Early Autumn.”

Yet the Smithsonian players, under the direction of veteran musician-educator David Baker, handled each style with aplomb. If they sometimes could not quite reproduce the individual sound--the utterly personal “voice” of each of the bands they were simulating--they nevertheless offered a solid musicality and an infectious enthusiasm that brought the music vividly to life.

The strength of the Smithsonian Orchestra is in its work as a unit; still, there was some attractive soloing. Pianist Russell Wilson, playing the Count Basie role in seven Basie numbers on the program, captured some of the count’s effervescent qualities.

Trumpeter Joe Wilder, the orchestra’s senior member and a participant in some of the original versions of the music under examination, sounded strong and imaginative, especially during his sensual rendering of the melody from Ellington’s “Almost Cried” (from the 1959 “Anatomy of a Murder” film score).

Billy Pierce added some impressive tenor saxophone choruses; trombonist Garnet Brown, always an intriguing improviser, made the most of a few brief solos, and trumpeters Greg Gisbert and Tom Williams contributed their own powerful statements.

The only flaw in this otherwise compelling evening was the program’s failure to include any selections from prime large-ensemble composer/arrangers such as Gil Evans, Gerald Wilson, Quincy Jones and Toshiko Akiyoshi--to name a few.

The Smithsonian Orchestra--heavily weighted toward Ellington and Basie, whose selections made up more than half the program--will be truly representative of the jazz repertoire when it includes a more diverse representation of the genre’s many exceptional talents.