Get Out!

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Published: Mar 19, 2008

You won't find a more demographic-confounding personage in all of hip-hop than Brother Ali, the albino Muslim MC from Minnesota. But the unconventional backstory doesn't prevent Ali from proclaiming the Truth with a relentless bark that shouts down naysayers with the self-possessed conviction of his mentor, KRS-One. Along with the swagger, he's unashamedly borrowed more than a touch of old-school head-bobbing funk, creating a particularly infectious punch in the teeth.

—Shaun Brady

Wed., March 26, 8 p.m., $15, with Abstract Rude, BK-One and Toki Wright, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.

The popular image of Beethoven is leonine, heroic, feisty, even shaking his fist at God. There is certainly a ton of magnificent music to support this iconic imagery, but the great man was also capable of producing music of exquisite delicacy and even fragility. Piano Concerto No. 4 is the featured work on the Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concerts this weekend, with the venerable classicist artist Rudolf Buchbinder as soloist. Almost ironically, this dramatically subtle and dreamily beautiful work will be bracketed by works of unabashed bombastic fun.

—Peter Burwasser

Thu., March 27 and Sat., March 29, 8 p.m.; Fri., March 28, 2 p.m.; $10-$88, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, philorch.org.

Like Derek Smalls playing lukewarm water to his "fire and ice" Spinal Tap frontmen, rhythm sections are all too often shunted to the background. Even the name implies a utilitarian subservience. Bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens — and drummer Harvey Sorgen — have co-led their eponymous group for 15 years to success in Europe but relative silence at home. They've found a self-effacing horn player in trumpeter Herb Robertson, willing to cede the marquee though obviously sharing in the collective sense of invention that the quartet generates.

—Shaun Brady

Mon., March 24, 8 p.m., $12, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, arsnovaworkshop.com.

Slowly but surely, Anthony Braxton is propagating some new musical language through the complex and varied compositional efforts of his students. Taiwanese-born saxophonist James Fei is cultivating a particularly strident dialect. His alto quartet explores the claustrophobic tensions of four identical timbres, with further constrictions placed on the players by Fei's instructions, whether screaming, fluttering or gurgling.

—Shaun Brady

Thu., March 25, 8 p.m., free, Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., arsnovaworkshop.com.

Detroit's Amp Fiddler, whose résumé lists collaborations with Prince, Brand New Heavies and George Clinton, has a solid handle on funk, soul and jazz. His trippy second album, Afro Strut (Fontana Distribution) includes guest appearances by Corinne Bailey Rae and Raphael Saadiq.

—Deesha Dyer

Sun., March 23, 7:30 p.m., $25-$35, with Tortured Soul, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.

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