VETERAN TRUMPET PLAYER UPDATES HIS SWING.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior Columnist

LANCASTER - Having seen musical trends come and go during his decades as a trumpeter, 77-year-old Ray Anthony has adopted a couple of styles he calls ``rock-swing.''

Backbeat and riffs take the retro sound to a new dimension in tunes like ``Route 66,'' ``Sing, Sing, Sing,'' ``Frankie and Johnny'' and ``Chattanooga Choo Choo.''

``Swing music is what I cut my teeth on,'' said Anthony, who brings his band and vocalist Madeline Vergari to the Lancaster Performing Arts Center on Saturday. ``Naturally, I was juiced when young audiences started clamoring for the tunes my band made famous.''

Still, he felt the arrangements that had stood the test of time were crying out for a fresh approach.

``They needed something that would reach out to audiences hearing them for the first time as well as for those who knew them note-for-note from their youth,'' he said. ``I experimented with my own charts, and what finally has emerged is a blend of classic swing and rock elements . . . this new rock-swing combination.''

Anthony was born Raymond Antonini to a successful musical family in Bentleyville, Penn. He began his career at age 5, playing in the Antonini Family Orchestra.

When he reached his teens, he formed his own band and also performed with other up-and-coming superstars such as Jimmy Dorsey.

Anthony broke into the big time at age 18, when he played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra at the height of its popularity. He also had his own band while serving in the Navy during World War II.

After the war, Capitol Records signed Anthony to a contract and over the next two decades released 100 of his albums. During this time, he wrote and recorded many numbers, including ``Bunny Hop'' and the theme songs for the ``Dragnet'' and ``Peter Gunn'' television shows.

He also appeared in five television series and 15 movies, formed his own record label and fronted a long-running musical revue in Las Vegas.

Many times in concert, the Ray Anthony Orchestra was enhanced by the late Mel Torme, sitting in on drums.

``I change and I adapt,'' Anthony said, in explaining his longevity. ``I've always believed keeping up with the times is the key to continued success,'' he said. ``I've never felt that any piece of music - or any other human activity, for that matter - was so perfect it could never be updated and improved.''

FOLLOWING ARE MENUS for next week for senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom. Meals include bread and margarine, and coffee, tea or milk. A $2 donation is requested.

--Monday: Chili egg puff, chili beans, spinach, creamy coleslaw, citrus sections.

--Tuesday: Braised beef and noodles, green beans, carrot-raisin salad, juice, cookies.

--Wednesday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, cottage cheese with pineapple, banana.

--Thursday: Tuna pasta and pea salad, garden salad, Jell-O with fruit, grape juice.

--Friday: Creole chicken, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, marinated salad, vanilla pudding.

--RAY ANTHONY will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, 750 W. Lancaster Blvd. Tickets are $22 and $25 and can be purchased by calling [phone].

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