Toumani Diabate performed a special solo set last night for a packed crowd at Manhattan's Other Music record store, and he's set to play New York's Bowery Ballroom tonight joined by his full Symmetric Orchestra, with Argentine-born pianist/composer Fernando Otero opening the show. It's sure to be a stellar set, judging by the band's Tuesday night show in Chicago, which the Chicago Tribune says provided some welcome heat to a frigid winter's night.

Reviewing Tuesday's show for the Tribune, writer Aaron Cohen says the Malian kora player's "virtuoso performance" proved "why he is one of his country's foremost musical ambassadors." Writes Cohen of Toumani and his Symmetric Orchestra:

Under Diabate's low-key direction, the combination of electric guitars and funk bass with the kora and equally ancient six-string ngoni sounded like a natural blend, especially during mid-tempo grooves.

Those grooves invariably gave way to Diabate's compelling solos ... His arpeggios showed he can perform cascades of notes while making this flow fit the context of a tune, and holding down the ensemble's rhythmic foundation.

And for the hardy Chicago bunch who "defied snow and subzero windchill" to attend the show, "the warmth behind it all couldn't have been more welcome."

To read the review, visit chicagotribune.com. For tickets to tonight's show in New York, click here. For information on Toumani's forthcoming release, The Mandé Variations, click here.