• Pink Martini — "Genre-hopping and über-hip,” Pink Martini comes to the Mondavi Center with Storm Large as , filling in for the ailing China Forbes. The 12-member "little orchestra" draws inspiration from jazz, classical, old-fashioned pop and romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and ’50s. Add a global perspective and you have what bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale describes as the perfect house band for the United Nations in 1962. Pink Martini’s latest recording is Joy to the World (2010), a nondenominational holiday album. The year before, the band put out its fifth album, Splendor in the Grass, described as a virtual carnival of musical influences, with one grand purpose: to rebuild a culture that sings and dances. 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, Jackson Hall.
• Return to Forever IV — The much honored jazz-rock fusion ensemble is making one of its storied returns to action, almost 40 years after appearing on the scene. Driven once again by the powerful engine of Chick Corea’s keyboards, Stanley Clarke’s bass and Lenny White’s drums, RTF IV takes to the road in the company of French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, veteran of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Australian guitarist Frank Gambale, described by the Mondavi Center as "fiery-fingered." Zappa Plays Zappa — founded by Dweezil Zappa, son of the late Frank Zappa — shares the bill. 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, Jackson Hall.
Tickets are available , or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and one hour before ticketed events.
SummerMusic on the Quad
The Mondavi Center once again presents a free summer concert series, open to the public, with all ages welcome. This year's series comprises two events — a Cajun concert by Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, and an Indian dance party, Non Stop Bhangra — with each program offering a preview of special themes in the center's 2011-12 season.
The Mamou Playboys "will give us a taste of Louisiana, tying in to our Spirit of New Orleans week in November," said Don Roth, the Mondavi Center's executive director, while Non Stop Bhangra will evoke the center's seasonlong Focus on India.
Each concert is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., with the Quad set to open at 6 for picknicking. Note: Alcoholic beverages are prohibited on the ϲϿ Davis campus.
• Saturday, July 16 — Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, performing Cajun music from the backwaters of southwest Louisiana. The band's history spans more than 20 years and includes three Grammy nominations: Trace of Time, (1993), Bon Reve (2003) and Live at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (2008). Featuring Riley on accordion, Sam Broussard on guitar and Kevin Wimmer on fiddle.
• Saturday, Aug. 13 — Non Stop Bhangra, or NSB, celebrating Punjabi folk music and dance, is legendary in San Francisco, where NSB parties are held the third Saturday of every month. On Aug. 13, the second Saturday of the month, DJ Jimmy Love and the Dholrhythms Dance Company bring Non Stop Bhangra to the Quad. "Imagine a scene from a Bollywood movie, smack in the middle of a thumping nightclub — swirling colors, the rhythm of pounding feet and the relentless energy of brilliant beats," states the NSB . The Mondavi Center announced that the NSB party on the Quad will start with a dance lesson for the audience. Dance performances will follow, with Love spinning a mix of bhangra, hip-hop, reggae and electronica.
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu