Sometimes you gotta talk to the band. The guys and gals who make the music, and in many cases write that music, will tell you what’s what with a superstar performer. I once asked (name of Las Vegas music director withheld) about working with (an international contemporary music and television superstar) and was told that this star was always one cocktail away from a show-stopping meltdown.

The early lesson here is, if you are a superstar, behave yourself around the band. Word spreads, fast, of the ill-tempered, narcissistic, off-putting behavior of star headliners. Occasionally, a musician will even record a headliner’s backstage rant, like the time decades ago when Paul Anka’s evisceration of his band after a show was caught on audio. The resulting diatribe is legendary among Las Vegas musicians, who understand such outbursts as, “The guys get shirts! Don’t make an effing maniac outta me! It’s like football, baseball, anything else! The guys get shirts!” and, “When I effing move, I slice like an effing hammer!” and, “Do you want me to get Vinnie Falcone up in front!? Is that what you want?!”

The superstar headliner needed some, uh, Anka management.

So it was that when Diana Ross was booked for nine shows at the Venetian Theatre, I wondered if she was prone to such outbursts or diva-like behavior. She would have earned the right, as one of the first female legends of the rock ’n’ roll era, and let’s not be naïve about the level of entitlement that can accompany great fame. Some superstars who have performed in some of Las Vegas’ most famous venues have run afoul of everyone from hotel entertainment directors to room-service staff to limo drivers.

And how is it working with Ross? “She has been great,” says her local trumpet player hired to play the Venetian. “She’s been nothing but friendly and gracious to work with, and I’m not just saying that. She has been wonderful to us, onstage and backstage.”

That musician is well-known around town. Name’s Danny Falcone, son of Vinnie (noted earlier), the music director for Frank Sinatra in Sinatra’s later years. Danny is joined in the Ross show by some of the city’s great horn players. He is flanked onstage by trombonist Nathan Tanouye and sax man Eric Tewalt. All three of the Vegas players are in Celine Dion’s orchestra (and we hope that doesn’t change, as Celine has recently shaken up her onstage lineup) and Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns. Ross’ lead sax player, John Scarpulla, fills out the roaring horn section.

The good vibes around the show are reflected onstage. Ross enters by gliding down an aisle in the theater, nodding to audience members while singing “I’m Coming Out.” Onstage she looks the audience straight in the face, and asks for the house lights to be turned up so she can make out all those faces.

The security team at the Venetian has a concern it had not expected in a Ross show: fans pushing their way toward the stage to be near or even touch a 71-year-old singer. Ross’ show, stuffed with hits from The Supremes and her solo career, scoots right along as if powered by her own adrenaline. Though she changes gowns a few times, she does connect on a genuine level. During her debut performance on April Fool’s Day, there were moments when her soaring voice caught, cracked and even fell a little flat.

Good. That means she’s actually singing.

Ross makes room in the show for her musicians to stretch out and solo (typically times for another costume change). Solos are not foreign to the guys in the Santa Fe lineup, who swing to great effect at the Palms’ Lounge as bandleader Jerry Lopez calls them to the front. But sometimes, a headliner will permit backing players to perform a solo only if they are in their original position onstage. Some won’t even permit the musician to look at the star during that solo.

But after Falcone’s spirited solo on opening night, which he performed near the front of the stage, Ross turned to him and said, “Danny, that was wonderful.” It’s a small gesture, but one that does matter, especially to someone with Falcone’s performing pedigree. The trumpet player recalls post-show meetings he sat through as stars whose names grace marquees unloaded on the band.

One legend in particular, well known to the Falcone family, engaged in such famous “chew-out” meetings for decades before finally putting the hammer away. You can guess the name of that star.

The Essential Diana Ross April 10, 11, 15, 17 & 18, 8 p.m., $60-$200. Venetian Theatre, 702-414-9000.