Triple-digit temperatures are no match for summer concert season at Chandler Center for the Arts.
The recently remodeled venue brings back its annual run of free music on Friday, with concerts taking the stage inside a cool, air-conditioned theater.
The series will feature five family friendly shows with music ranging from classic rock and New Orleans jazz to musical theater numbers and high-energy flamenco. Tickets are not required, and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Foyer doors will open one hour prior to show-time, with access to the theater beginning 30 minutes before curtain.
Friday’s concert kicks off the series with a performance by The DelRayz, an Arizona band that plays a mix of classic covers and soulful original tunes.
Named after a short-lived Chevrolet model made in the late 1950s and founded by local blueswomen Rochelle Raya and Nancy Dalessandro — inductees of the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame and founding members of decorated Valley funk-soul-blues act Sistah Blue — the band includes guitarist James Robertson (formerly of Sweetfinger), bassist Scott Alamprese (Whiskey River) and drummer-vocalist Dale Loyola, who once did a stint with Ray Charles.
Other concerts on the schedule include:
7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13: Bad Cactus Brass Band, a New Orleans-style jazz band whose repertoire includes original dance music, traditional Dixieland, gospel, swing and pop songs reinterpreted with a brass band sound.
7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27: Brad Richter, a master guitarist whose concerts, solo and with The Richter Uzur Duo, are featured frequently on NPR broadcasts of American Public Media’s “Performance Today” and “Guitar Alive.”
3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12: “That’s Life” From Sinatra to Sondheim, a collaboration of Valley favorites Rusty Ferracane, Kristen Drathman and Craig Bohmler performing musical theater classics, traditional standards and songs by Stephen Sondheim, Jule Stein, Jason Robert Brown, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand and Sammy Davis Jr.
3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19: Calo Flamenco Cuadro, a dance and music ensemble following the traditional themes and elements of the folk art form flamenco.
For information, call (480) 782-2680 or visit http://chandlercenter.org/performances/series-summer.html
If you go
What: The DelRayz, a band founded by members of defunct Valley favorite Sistah Blue, performs classic covers and soulful original tunes.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave.
Cost: Free, but seating is first-come, first-served
Information: (480) 782-2680 or www.chandlercenter.org
