The Rat Pack Live at the Sands

Ring-a-ding-ding!

This show re-creates what it might have been like to be in the audience at the Sands showroom in Las Vegas in the 1960s, when the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.) held court. Frank, Dean and Sammy may be long gone, but this show features first-class performers who “play” them, accompanied by a singing sister act. It’s music, comedy, nostalgia . . . showmanship!

The Rat Pack Live at the Sands opens Tuesday (March 10) and runs through March 15 at Proctors (432 State St., Schenectady). There are performances at 8 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and at 2 PM Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $20-$55, and can be ordered through the box office at 346-6204.

SF Jazz Collective

The SF Jazz Collective are on a mission. Assuming that the legacy of traditional jazz has, through the efforts of preservationists like Wynton Marsalis and myriad documentarians of jazz’s “Golden Age,” been effectively preserved, the all-star septet have put personal projects aside to remember the “modern masters” of the late 20th century.

“Modernity” is the mantra espoused by the group, founded a few years back to celebrate the likes of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Herbie Hancock. Each year the group rework classic material by a master composer and supplements their repertoire with originals. This year the work of McCoy Tyner lands in the good hands of Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Miguel Zenón, Robin Eubanks, Renee Rosnes, Matt Penman and Eric Harland.

The SF Jazz Collective will come to the Egg (Empire State Plaza, Albany) Sunday (March 8) at 7 PM. Tickets are $28. Call 473-1845 for more info.

Dogs of Desire

The Dogs are back. David Alan Miller heads uptown—to the College of Saint Rose—to conduct the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary music ensemble tomorrow (Friday) night. The program is titled the Great Explorers Concert, and will include new works by Evan Hause (Passage), Dan Visconti (Low Country Haze), David Mallamud (Immram) and Luis Tinoco (Sea of Tranquility); the pieces celebrate “exploration as expressed in the lives and adventures of great explorers and other voyages of discovery.”

The Dogs of Desire will perform Friday (March 6) at 8 PM at the Massry Center for the Arts’ Kathleen McManus Recital Hall (1002 Madison Ave., Albany). Tickets are $25, $10 students. For more info, call 465-4663.