Expanding on His Big Band Theory : Jazz: Musician Terry Gibbs loves to talk about his 17-piece group performing tonight and Saturday at Disneyland’s Carnation Gardens.

A lot of jazz musicians aren’t very talkative. Like the late John Coltrane, they seem to feel their music speaks for itself.

Then there’s Terry Gibbs. Once you get the vibist-bandleader started, you darned near can’t shut him up--especially when the subject is his Dream Band, the 17-piece group that plays tonight and Saturday at Disneyland’s Carnation Gardens.

When the Brooklyn native first unveiled his big band in Los Angeles in 1959, it was an all-star ensemble called “The Exciting Terry Gibbs Big Band” and it drew praises from fans, critics and musicians.

The band--whose albums recorded 30 years ago for Mercury and Verve still sound fresh--was inactive from the mid-’60s until 1986. Then, Contemporary Records came out with some previously unreleased live performances by the ensemble, under the Dream Band name. Currently there are five Dream Band CDs on the market. Even with the renewed interest, though, Gibbs has appeared only intermittently with the band. His last Disneyland date was in 1990.

But it’s not because he doesn’t want to.

“I don’t want to sound like an egomaniac, but our music is some of the best straight-ahead music there is,” the 67-year-old said in typical upbeat fashion. “It’s a special band.”

“Those guys were so good,” he continued, referring to the band’s initial roster that included alto saxophonist Joe Maini, trombonist Frank Rosolino, trumpeter Conte Candoli and drummer Mel Lewis. Maini, Lewis and Rosolino all are dead now, but a number of Gibbs’ former cohorts still play with the band. At Disneyland, they will include pianist Lou Levy, saxophonists Med Flory and Jack Nimitz, trombonist Bob Enevoldsen and trumpeter Jack Sheldon.

The only reason the band doesn’t play more often is that it is hard to get the right musicians for the right price under the right conditions, Gibbs said. “I don’t like to just bring any band out. I have to have the guys I need, and we have to have time to rehearse. We rehearsed two days for Disneyland, even though everyone’s played the book. You see, I have heard this band sound so good that I want it to be at least 99% of what it used to be.”

Gibbs started the band for a concept album for Mercury Records, to whom he’d been signed since the mid-’50s. “I wanted to take six arrangers and have them do two charts each, with the charts in the style of other great big bands,” he recalls.

He used such aces as Bill Holman, Al Cohn, Bob Brookmeyer, Marty Paich, Manny Albam and Flory to write versions of such classics as “Cottontail” and “Flying Home.” They, and others such as Johnny Mandel, continued to write for the band and enlarged the Gibbs’ repertoire to include such pop standards as “Day by Day” and “I’ll Take Romance,” and such originals as Holman’s “Limerick Waltz.” Gibbs hasn’t added to the book since the ‘60s, and still uses those original arrangements when he performs.

One thing Gibbs insisted on from his writing staff was lots of ensemble music, with the solos darting in and out amid the written parts.

“That was the way Benny Goodman set up his band, and I liked that idea,” he said. “Then, after the band became a hit, we started opening up the charts to allow for more solos.”

But the ensemble sections still are what Gibbs loves most about the Dream Band.

“A big band is hearing music. I want to hear music. That’s why you have a big band,” he said.

He noted that his book is custom-made for a drummer. “Drummers love to play ensembles,” said Gibbs, who initially was a drummer himself. “That way you can show off what you can do.”

At Disneyland, Gibbs and company will play tempos to suit dancers. “We have to do that, but last time we did it without lowering our standards and it was wonderful,” he said. “You see, tunes like ‘Flying Home’ or ‘Jumpin’ at the Woodside’ can be played at any tempo and still groove.”

He doesn’t think the current band ever will make an album. “The only way I would do it would be where I could play two to three nights a week for eight weeks or so in a club, with the same band that would make the record. I don’t want to just go into the studio. I want the same feeling I get when we play live.”

Terry Gibbs’ Dream Band plays tonight and Saturday from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Carnation Gardens at Disneyland, 1313 Harbor Blvd., Anaheim. Concerts are free with regular admission, $23 to $28.75. Parking: $5. (714) 999-4565.