The Allentown Symphony Orchestra Pops, directed by guest conductor Chelsea Tipton II with featured vocalist Shayna Steele and drummer Douglas Marriner, present an evening of blues, swing and jive in “Nothin’ But the Blues,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

“I have the distinct pleasure to be leading and conducting the Allentown Symphony Orchestra in this incredible program featuring incredible vocals by Shayna Steele,” says Tipton, adding “This is a great way to kick off the new year.”

All program selections are arranged by Grammy Award winner Jeff Tyzik, former lead trumpet with Chuck Mangione’s band, collaborator with Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Band and record producer for Maynard Ferguson and the Woody Herman Orchestra.

Concert attendees may recall that Tyzik arranged the selections of the January 2024 ASO Pops concert, “Lush Life: The Music of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn.”

The concert opens with the Jack Pettis-Billy Meyers-Elmer Schoebel popular tune “Bugle Call Blues,” also known as “Bugle Call Rag.” First recorded in 1922 by the Friar’s Society Orchestra (later renamed as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings), the song quickly became standard repertoire of the jazz genre performed by many notable artists, including Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Ray Noble, Buddy Rich and the Mills Brothers.

Pianist Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton’s classic “King Porter Stomp” composed around 1906 and first recorded in 1923, was named after Morton’s friend and fellow pianist Porter King. The “stomp” style of music utilizes an eight-bar harmonic chord progression.

Composed in the early 1920s by songwriters and blues artists Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin, “Down Hearted Blues” expresses melancholy and sadness in the lack of reciprocated love.

William Christopher “W.C.” Handy described the blues as “the sound of a sinner on revival day.” Known as the “Father of the Blues,” his 1914 hit “St. Louis Blues” integrates blues with ragtime and is one of the first blues songs to become a pop hit.

“Birth of the Blues” by composers Lew Brown, Buddy DeSylva and Ray Henderson was written for the 1926 Broadway revue “George White’s Scandals,” a series of Broadway revues produced by George White modeled after the “Ziegfeld Follies.”

Jeff Tyzic’s “Blues Train” features the orchestra in the style of Count Basie with a swinging groove followed by the 1922 Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins vaudeville jazz style tune “’t Ain’t Nobody’s Bizzness If I Do” about freedom of choice.

The concert’s first-half closes with the traditional “St. James Infirmary” and Tyzik’s orchestral work “Downtown Shuffle.”

After intermission, the orchestra opens with two orchestral features: Tyzik’s “Swing, Swing, Swing,” an original jazz piece in the style of Benny Goodman’s popular “Sing, Sing, Sing,” featuring drum soloist Douglas Marriner, followed by “Jelly Roll Jive” based on Jelly Roll Morton’s 1915 work “Jelly Roll Blues.”

Bessie Smith’s 1927 piece “Backwater Blues” provides insight into the Cumberland River flood that struck Nashville, Tenn., on Christmas morning 1926 and the existing racial disparities of the period.

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey wrote about “somethin’ gone wrong” in her 1923 work “Bad Luck Blues.” Known as the “Mother of the Blues,” she was influential in bridging vaudeville and Southern blues, earning her induction into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

The 1923 hit “Tin Roof Blues” by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, is one of today’s most often recorded and performed New Orleans jazz compositions. The song expresses the era’s sense of sadness and hardship.

Also in 1923, songwriter and vaudeville performer Jimmie Cox wrote “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” reflective of the 1920-1921 United States economic depression and the loss of wealth, poverty and friendship.

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s work “Life Goes On” relates that no matter what happens, negative or positive, life will go on. Thornton’s size and powerful voice earned her the moniker “Big Mama.” She declared her talent was self-taught by watching others. She not only sang, but also played the harmonica and drums.

The concert closes with “Wear Me Down,” a collaborative piece by Steele and pianist-composer David Cook.

“Nothin’ But the Blues,” Allentown Symphony Orchestra Pops, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown. Free for those age 21 and under. Tickets: box office: 610-432-6715; https://millersymphonyhall.org/

“Classical View” is a column about classical music, concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com