Staff and faculty are getting a head start on tickets for the "just added" Return to Forever IV concert at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. And remember, staff and faculty receive a 10 percent discount on single-event tickets.

The much honored jazz-rock fusion ensemble is set to play at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Jackson Hall. The bill also includes Zappa Plays Zappa.

The head start runs from noon to 6 p.m. Friday (May 20), one day before tickets go on sale to the general public. To take advantage of the head start, you must buy your tickets in person or by telephone (see the numbers below) — and you must have a UC Davis e-mail account. (Note: No online sales for head-start tickets, and limit two per order.)

The much honored Return to Forever ensemble is making one of its storied returns to action, almost 40 years after appearing on the scene. "And, in the bold tradition of renewal that the band has established as an essential quality, this latest installment combines elements from the group’s rich history with an exciting vision of the jazz future," according to a news release from the Mondavi Center.

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."

"Expect to hear this musically dynamic lineup take on rearranged Return to Forever classics, as well as highlights from each member’s discography," the news release states.

Said Corea: “Since all the guys in the band are such good composers, I wanted to have everyone’s compositions add to the new RTF IV vibe. So we all agreed: Let’s open it up — which is the way we like it, and I think the way the fans like it, too.”

Dweezil Zappa is the founder of Zappa Plays Zappa, presenting the the music of his late father, Frank Zappa, in a series of international performances dubbed Tour De Frank. Zappa Plays Zappa won a Grammy Award in 2009.

“I think my dad’s music deserves to be heard by a wider audience,” Zappa said. “I really think he’s been misunderstood for far too long, which brings me back to why I’m doing this: I’m so in awe of his accomplishments and want more and more people to know about him, and I think the best way for people to first discover his music is on a visceral level in a live situation. I think you have to be confronted with the complexity and the beautiful subtlety of all of it to fully appreciate the artistry of it.”

More at the Mondavi

• Connie Nielsen and Lost in Africa — The Danish actress visits UC Davis to talk about the plight of millions of people around the world who live in slums like Kibera, a place she encountered outside Nairobi, Kenya, while making the film Lost in Africa. The film will be screened during Nielsen's appearance, Saturday, May 21. The program starts at 6:30 in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. No more tickets are available for this free event. See separate story.

• UC Davis Baroque Ensemble, with the Davis High School Baroque Ensemble — Works by Vivaldi, Soler, Handel, Geminiani and Mozart. 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center.

• UC Davis' Empyrean Ensemble: New Music from Davis — Premiering the works of graduate student composers. 7 p.m. Monday, May 23, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Preconcert talk with the composers and Kurt Rohde, the ensemble's co-director. See separate story.

• UC Davis Jazz Bands: Guest Artists — Featuring composer, arranger and saxophonist Gregory Yasinitsky, along with Carlos Medrano on congas and Tim Acosta on trumpet. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. See separate story.

• Tony Bennett — This singer has been leaving his heart in San Francisco for decades, and now he can leave it here, too, after performing at the Mondavi Center for the first time. 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, Jackson Hall.

• UC Davis Concert Band: Earth Songs — Celebrating the biological, ecological and agricultural sciences. Also: a tribute to the bicycle, featuring well-known bicycle tunes. 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, Jackson Hall.

• UC Davis Symphony Orchestra — Family Concert, featuring the winners of the orchestra's 2011 Concerto Competition and the Composition Award. 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2, Jackson Hall. See separate story.

• Alexander String Quartet — Beethoven's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, and String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135. This is the last of the quartet's four concert dates in the Mondavi Center's 2010-11 season, and brings to a close the quartet's three-year Mondavi Center cycle of performing all of Beethoven’s string quartets. 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 5, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Postperformance question-and-answer session with quartet members. The 2 p.m. concert is sold out; check with the box office about the waiting list.

• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — The “greatest large jazz ensemble working today,” according to the Chicago Tribune, draws from an extensive repertoire, including original works by Marsalis, Ted Nash and other members of the group. Marsalis, trumpeter, and the orchestra’s leader and music director, received the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997 — becoming the first jazz artist to be so honored. He earned the prize for Blood on the Fields, a commissioned work for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the orchestra’s parent organization (with Marsalis as artistic director). 8 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Jackson Hall.

• Pink Martini — A 12-member band that draws inspiration jazz, classical, old-fashioned pop and the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and ’50s — with a more global perspective. As Pink Martini bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale said, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, then hopefully we’d be that band.” Pink Martini’s latest album is Splendour 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.

Tickets are available online, 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.