The high-profile acts that popmeister pals Kasim Sulton and Glen Burtnik have played with read like a rock star Who's Who list: Todd Rundgren, Meat Loaf and Patti Smith for Sulton; Styx, Springsteen and Bon Jovi for Burtnik. Yet these two have remained word-of-mouth favorites with small but fervent followings of their own. Now's your chance to catch multi-instrumentalist Kasim before he heads off (with Runt) to tour as the new incarnation of The Cars. Both he and Burtnik will do solo sets and share the stage for one or more of the songs they've written together over the years.

Fri., Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m., $16, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0770, www.tinangel.com

This year is the Shostakovich centennial, and even though there are no banners hanging on Broad Street to proclaim it, it's hard to think of another composer whose star has risen so quickly in recent years. His massive symphonies were, by far, the works that garnered the most attention in his own time (he died in 1975), but it is his luminous chamber music that is currently the center of attention. The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society offers a tribute with three intimate works.

Leila Josefowicz, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano. Mon., Feb. 6, 8 p.m., $22, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 13th and Race sts., 215-569-8080, www.philadelphiachambermusic.org.

Tenorist Javon Jackson was one of the final lineup of Jazz Messengers, but his own music has turned more toward '70s funk. Last year's Have You Heard (Palmetto Records) covers Zapp & Roger and Curtis Mayfield and boasts several groove-laden originals. The drummer may stick more to funk beats, but Jackson's strong, bluesy soloing shows that he did learn a thing or two from Art Blakey.

Fri.-Sat., Feb. 3-4, 7:45 and 10 p.m., $25, Zanzibar Blue, 200 S. Broad St., 215-732-4500, www.zanzibarblue.com.

Chicago reedman Ken Vandermark's hard-charging quartet has been around for nearly a decade, but their dynamic has just changed. For the first time the three-horn front line has been supplanted, with trombonist Jeb Bishop replaced by Delaware-born cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm. No stranger to Vandermark's music, Lonberg-Holm should dig right into the leader's knotty compositions, adding a sense of texture and perhaps even moments of quiet into the braying free-jazz romps.

Thu., Feb. 2, 8 p.m., $12, The Cinema, 3925 Walnut St., www.arsnovaworkshop.com.

Since his eclectic music-art project His Name Is Alive last played Philly in 2000, Warn Defever released an album of flaccid porno music and opted not to tour, instead playing scattered one-offs at art galleries in Pittsburgh and New York. Seems we didn't miss much while he was out, and now we're seeing him in top form. Opening for Low next week, the sinuous voices and sundry beats on His Name's fine new Detrola (Reincarnate Music) should skitter beautifully across the rafters of the First Unitarian sanctuary.

Tue., Feb. 7, 8 p.m., $12, with Low and Death Vessel, First Unitarian Church Sanctuary, 2125 Chestnut St., 866-468-7619, www.r5productions.com.