Break out those dance shoes stored too long through an insipid winter. It’s summer, the heat is on and it’s dance time — served up from the mid-’60s through early ’70s by world-renowned trumpeter Dr. Jack Poster and his band, Rave.
Poster and Rave — piano, bass, drums, trumpet, sax and female singer (Donna Cristy) — are, according to Poster, definitely a dance band with a heavy emphasis on funk — strong back beat, popping horns and laying it down.
If anyone’s rose-colored glasses look back fondly on groups such as Sly and the Family Stone, Michael Jackson, J.J. Jackson, Village People and Casey and the Sunshine Band, they might want to bring two pair of shoes, because the music and the concrete floor will be hot, hot, hot. Toss in some Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Donna Summer, and it will be a dance party to remember.
Poster is a long-respected musician, having played lead trumpet with Stan Kenton, Harry James, Ray Anthony, Si Zetner and others. In the late 1980s, Poster was the musical director and featured artist at the Maxim Hotel in Las Vegas. He has recorded and performed with a lineup of the greatest of the greats — Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Diana Ross, Sammy Davis Jr., Cher, Dean Martin and Barbra Streisand.
Poster and Rave take the stage at the Idyllwild Community Center site at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10, with opening act, Sandii Castleberry and Friends, at 6:15 p.m.
There is no charge for this event, although, when the donation jar comes around it is a serious moment because at this point the series is only a third funded, and donations enable this free event to continue to provide summer musical entertainment for Hill residents.
Bring chairs or blankets, food, drinks and warm clothing.