CONCERT SAMPLER
Live music highlights from Feb. 5 to 11:
THURSDAY New Pornographers. They won’t be quite full strength, with Neko Case and Dan Bejar away, but Carl Newman & Co. have a deep well of smart, big tunes that are irresistible. Virtual co-headliners Operators add much appeal leading off for this sellout show. (Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m.)
FRIDAY Alan Doyle. Amiable Great Big Sea frontman is a busy fellow these days. With a memoir out late last year detailing his family life growing up in Petty Harbour, and now his second solo record, So Let’s Go, bringing him back toward GBS’s Celtic folk-rock template, all the developments should come together in this show. (Danforth Music Hall, doors 7 p.m.) Peter Evans. On his own and within various collaborations, the New York-based trumpeter works a wild patch that covers avant, classical and jazz. He’ll be part of the International Contemporary Ensemble’s Whisper Opera (opening Feb. 26 at the Theatre Centre), but first a solo show. With veteran guitar noisemaker Brian Ruryk and percussionist Germaine Liu. (Ratio, 9 p.m.)
SATURDAY National Arts Centre Orchestra. For Pinchas Zukerman’s final appearance in Toronto as music director of Ottawa-based NACO, the all-Brahms program is tailor-made for a rousing farewell. Zukerman on violin and NACO principal cellist Amanda Forsyth will feature in the Double Concerto and after an intermission chat he’ll conduct the orchestra and Grammy-winning pianist Yefim Bronfman in the Piano Concerto No. 2. (Roy Thomson Hall, 8 p.m.) Zap Mama & Antibalas. The acrobatic vocals and scatting of Afro-pop vet Marie Daulne and her pair of backing singers in Zap Mama are formidable enough. Add 12-piece Afrobeat band Antibalas and it should fill up the place with a looselimbed, polyrhythmic cheer. (Koerner Hall, 8 p.m.) Anne Lindsay. Her career as fiery violinist for hire has included a regular association with Blue Rodeo and Jim Cuddy, one-offs with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and James Taylor, even a gig as ACC house fiddler at Maple Leafs home games. Soloworks, her third solo LP, gets its coming-out party here. (Heliconian Hall, 8 p.m.)
SUNDAY Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate. An unlikely one-off union of Syracuseto-Bristol folk rapper Driscoll and Guinean electrified kora master Kouyate in 2010 has developed into an ongoing association that went over big with a Harbourfront crowd last summer in their local debut. With a second LP on the way, it’ll be interesting to see how they’re developing the partnership. (Lula Lounge, doors 7 p.m.)
MONDAY Asaf Avidan. Israeli troubadour is a big star in his homeland and finally makes it here for a long overdue Toronto debut after visa troubles scotched a Mod Club date a year ago. He brings a bluesy, androgynous voice and a first North American release, Gold Shadow, that shows off his lyricism, a combination that has earned him comparisons to Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, even Leonard Cohen. Pick of the week and the guess is he’ll be playing much bigger halls in the future. (Opera House, doors 8 p.m.)
TUESDAY Olivia Chaney. The London singersongwriter and multi-instrumentalist can hop between styles and the piano, guitar and harmonium, with a pure and clear voice that sounds connected to folk tradition. She’s built a base at home and makes her Canadian debut here in a fine setting (note the early start) ahead of a debut LP on Nonesuch scheduled for release next month. (Dakota, doors 6:30 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY Wynton Marsalis. It’s always a master-classy treat when the New Orleans-born trumpeter, composer and bandleader brings in New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for their annual visit. No word on the program, but the musicianship is certified top-drawer and they typically takes a curatorial and reverent approach tackling the American jazz spectrum from the Duke and Dizzy on up to Marsalis and the band’s contemporary compositions. (Massey Hall, 8 p.m.)