Thursday, October 23, 2014

This week's hot concerts

Branford Marsalis & the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
Friday  8 p.m., Dale F. Halton Theater, 1206 Elizabeth Ave., CPCC, $40-$65, http://tix.cpcc.edu/
Two weeks after his brother Wynton’s Charlotte concert, as well as days before the release of his latest album, “In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral,” the elder Marsalis (he's 54) continues to explore classical music with orchestral Baroque pieces by Bach, Telemann, and Albinoni in a show he’s dubbed “Well Tempered.”


The Cowards Choir
Friday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $8-$10, www.eveningmuse.com
Songwriter Andy Zipf - last here with this summer’s Parlor Sessions collective - took a new name (the title of an old release actually) and a fresh direction that he’s been honing in on for a few years. He celebrates the “Cool Currency” EP (his second under the new name) with Tom McBride and Thomas Pagan Motta (the also latter plays an in-store at Repo Record at 6:30 p.m.).

Junior Astronomers
Friday  9 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., Free over 21, $5 under 21, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com  
For the past six years founding members Terrence Richard and Philip Wheeler have been celebrating their co-birthday with a free live music blow-out starring - not only their own nationally-touring indie rock band - but a few of their friends. This year they are joined by Girl Pants, Wunderbeast, and Small Sanctions.


Hurray for the Riff Raff
Friday  9 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $15, www.visulite.com  
While drawing mainstream attention with modern folk classics like “I Know It’s Wrong (But That’s All Right),” this New Orleans combo led by Puerto Rican banjo player/singer Alynda Lee Segarra and transgender fiddler Yosi Perlstein is championing feminism, non-violence, and LGBT causes with brazenly breathtaking and fun folk.

Joe Ely
Friday  9 p.m., Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave., $20, www.doubledoorinn.com 
This year the revered Flat-lander and Lubbock songwriter published his first novel, “Reverb: An Odyssey,” and unearthed an unreleased album from the `80s. “B4 84” was possibly the first record ever recorded on an Apple computer and it surprisingly doesn’t sound dated.


Los Lobos
Sunday  7 p.m., Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St., $34.50-$54.50, www.blumenthalarts.org
The globally acclaimed Mexican-American band, which formed while in high school in East L.A. in the early `70s, celebrates its fortieth anniversary by revisiting its post “La Bamba” 1989 album “La Pistola y El Corazon” with an acoustic set of Tejano and Mariachi folk songs as well as its best loved hits.

Ne-Yo
Sunday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $52.91, www.livenation.com  
The Grammy winning R&B singer and hit songwriter (Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” Rihanna’s “Take a Bow”) previews material from his upcoming 2015 album “Non-Fiction” (including current single “She Knows”) in an intimate club setting, while revisiting past hits like “So Sick,” “Closer,” and “Miss Independent.”

Yellowcard
Wednesday  7:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $22-$25/$75 VIP, www.amossouthend.com  
Given the sudden injury and paralysis of singer Ryan Key’s pro-snowboarder fiancé, fans might expect its new album “Lift a Sail” to be a melancholy one. Instead it’s an anthemic, grand guitar rock album reminiscent of Blink 182 and 311’s best, most expansive work with the only cry from fans being “more violin!” (The couple is now married).


Sarah Jarosz & the Milk Carton Kids
Wednesday  8 p.m., Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St., $30-$35, www.blumenthalarts.org  
Twenty-three-year-old roots wunderkind and recent New England Conservatory of Music grad Jarosz teams with the California folk duo who are also fellow Grammy nominees and her “Austin City Limits” episode partners. As a gather-round-the-mic trio, they demonstrate just how exciting the future of roots music is.

Filmstrip
Thursday  8 p.m., The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd., $5-$7, www.themilestoneclub.com  
The Cleveland trio capture `90s guitar fuzz and lo-fi indie rock, but blend it with an almost classic folk-rock aesthetic while avoiding noise for art’s sake (that can muddle the meaning) with traditional structure and audible lyrics. It’s new album, “Moments of Matter,” which was recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain studio, is out Nov. 4.