8 pm: Jazz

That most distinguished of jazz institutions, New York’s Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and its equally distinguished director, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, are touring the country with a new program, “For Dancers Only,” which explores the ballroom music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and others. Added touch: a troupe of professional dancers swings with the steps of the day as Marsalis and the orchestra perform. Cabaret seating available.

* “For Dancers Only,” the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, 8 p.m. $55 to $75. (800) 300-4345.

7 pm: Fund-Raiser

Actor and dancer Gregory Hines will serve as master of ceremonies at the fund-raising event Kaleidoscope 2000. This annual evening of music, comedy, food and dancing will benefit Los Angeles’ New Roads School, serving grades six through 12, New Roads is based on three principles: racial diversity, environmental preservation and social justice. About 60% of the student body receives financial aid. Entertainment will be provided by Hines, comedian and actor Steve Harvey, singer Patrice Rushen and others.

* Kaleidoscope 2000, CBS Television City, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Stage 31, Los Angeles, 7 p.m. $50. (213) 489-6118.

7 pm: Pop Music

Memphis’ musical history is studded with some of the great names in popular music, and when the city’s Rock-N-Soul Museum opens later this month, the recorded voice welcoming visitors will be one of the greatest--Al Green’s. Meantime, the reverend will show the old school still has some lessons to teach when he headlines the Mega Jam 2000 concert at the Arrowhead Pond.

* Mega Jam 2000 with Al Green, the Four Tops, Sister Sledge, Delfonics, GQ, Arrowhead Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, 7 p.m. $25 to $65. (714) 704-2500.

8 pm: Dance

Just two years ago, two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway choreographer Susan Stroman seemed a strange choice to create a work for the committed modernists of the Martha Graham Dance Company--but who’s got the last laugh now? Along with such Graham classics as “Appalachian Spring,” “Satyric Festival Song,” “Errand Into the Maze” and “Deep Song,” the company is performing the local premiere of Stroman’s well-received “But Not for Me: Gershwin/Graham,” commissioned by the Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Trust, no less. Where Stroman celebrated the Wild West in her 1992 Gershwin musical “Crazy for You,” this 1998 Gershwin suite focuses on lonely city dwellers.

* Martha Graham Dance Company, Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, 8 p.m. $35 to $40. (323) 343-6600.

6 & 9 pm: Pop Music

Hip-hop in both its hard-core and eclectic modes gets an airing, with the big Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Millionaires Tour matching two of rap’s major collectives for two nights at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, and the Roots and Jurassic 5 anchoring the hip-hop presence at the Audiotistic, an event that endeavors to unite all styles of dance culture.

* Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Millionaires Tour with DMX, Eve, LOX, Drag-On, Juvenile, Lil’ Wayne, Hot Boy$, B.G. and the Big Tymers, Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Saturday at 6 p.m.; Sunday at 4 p.m. $32 to $52. (949) 855-2863.

* Audiotistic with the Roots, Jurassic 5, Q-Bert, DJ Craze, A-Trak, King Britt, D-Stylee, others, National Orange Show Fairgrounds, 689 S. E St., San Bernardino. Saturday at 9 p.m. $25 pre-sale, then $30 and $55. (323) 692-7592.

7:30 pm: Opera

At Los Angeles Opera, as at most international opera houses, Puccini is a standard. What is not standard is his rarely performed “La Rondine” (1917), which, in a new production shared with Washington Opera, opens Saturday for seven performances. Carol Vaness, Marcus Haddock and William Parcher head the cast; Marta Domingo is stage director; and Emmanuel Villaume conducts.

* Puccini’s “La Rondine” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 7:30 p.m. $27 to $146. Subsequent performances at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, 29 and May 2 and 5, and at 1 p.m. April 22. (213) 365-3500.

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FREEBIES: Resident artists host the Santa Fe Art Colony’s open studio weekend at 2401 S. Santa Fe Ave., two blocks south of Washington Boulevard, downtown L.A. Noon to 5 p.m. Also Sunday. (323) 587-5513.