Thought it might be worthwhile to note that, as I write this, I’m listening to a truly special album that has been an obsession of mine for more than a minute. Abracadabra in Osaka, by Soft Works, is a document of an absolutely searing show recorded in the titular city on August 11, 2003, featuring the late electric guitar Maestro Allan Holdsworth teaming up with his friends and former Soft Machine bandmates saxophonist/keyboardist Elton Dean, bassist Hugh Hopper and drummer John Marshall for a set of music that defies easy description, though if you called it progressive jazz, you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong.

This fantastic album doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere, but you can buy the download or the beautifully packaged twin-disc set via the Moon June Records Bandcamp page. (Shop around a bit while you’re there – Moon June releases some incredible music. Lots of it.) 

Moving on from recorded live music to the genuine real-time article, a few cool show announcements for the Western New York region dropped this week.

First off, Todd Rundgren is bringing his Me/We 2024 Tour to the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda on April 30. (Fan Pre-Sale kicked off on 1/17. If you’re interested, the case-sensitive password is VICTORY24.) Todd will be bringing along his stellar band – Prairie Prince, Kasim Sulton, Bobby Strickland, Gil Assayas, and Bruce McDaniel – along for the stop at is apparently one of his favorite venues in the Northeast. 

The Borderland Festival announced its annual Railroader Jamboree fest for March 23, at Holiday Valley in Elicottville, NY. The Infamous Stringdusters will headline a Bille that also includes Karina Rykman, the Wild Knights performing Grateful Dead, Allan Brothers & Little Feat, Dirty Blanket and Buffalo Brass Machine. Skiing and lodging packages, as well as tickets, are available through Railriderjam.com. 

Finally, jambands.com announced this week that Live Dead & Brothers – an all-star ensemble comprised of veterans from the world of Grateful Dead- and Allman Brothers Band-related music, featuring Les Dudek, Tom Constanten, Berry Duane Oakley, Mark Karan, Scott Guberman and Pete Lavezolli – will head off on a 16-date tour this Spring. Included in this jaunt is an April 19 stop at the Sportsmen’s Tavern in Buffalo. That’s an awful lotta talent that’s gonna be taking over the Sportsmen’s stage. I feel blessed…

But wait… there’s more! 

Matt Michaud Trio : The Music of Soulive

Thursday, January 25, 7 p.m. at PAUSA art house, $10/$14

Here’s a fantastic idea for a show. 

One of Buffalo’s finest guitarists celebrating the music of one of the most indelible bands to ever have emerged from our region. Led by the Evans brothers, and later on, featuring one of the most absurdly gifted soul-jazz guitarists this side of John Scofield in the form of Eric Krasnow, Soulive came out of the Buffalo clubs in the 90s with a filthy blend of funk, soul, and a jazz-inspired sense of groove and improvisation. 

The band eventually landed on the more-than-prestigious Blue Note label, and release classics like Next, Rubber Soulive, and Breakout, before Allan Evans, Neal Evans and Krasnow became deeply enmeshed in other projects, placing the band on intermittent hiatus. 

Guitarist and bandleader Michaud will be joined by keyboardist/key-bassist Kevin Urso, and drummer Isaiah Gethers for what is sure to be a soul-soaked evening at PAUSA art house. 

Girl From the North Country

Tuesday January 16- Sunday January 21 at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, $53 – $107

Bob Dylan’s songs are already stage plays, aren’t they? Is there a finer example of a songwriter with a keen eye for the dramatic and a well-tuned ear for the poetic? Maybe. But not likely. 

We’re lucky here in Western New York that Shea’s PAC is bringing Girl From the North Country to town for a 5-day run, right in the heart of winter. Dylan, after all, is from Minnesota, and his most heart-rending songs have always struck me as redolent of icy bereavement and the remorselessness of the frozen January ground – balanced, of course, by the romantic poet’s indomitable belief in the eventual appearance of Spring.

Oh, and lest you get the impression that I’m the only scribbler to blah-blah-blah in purple prose about the significance of this show, let’s hear from Ben Brantley of the New York Times, who writes of Girl From the North Country as if we’re still living in an era when music & arts criticism in daily newspapers is a given, not an anomaly. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

“A rich and strange marriage of the talents,” Brantley opines. “If you’re a hard-core Dylan fan, you’ve heard these songs before. But, for me at least, they’ve never sounded quite so heartbreakingly personal and universal at the same time…The most imaginative and inspired use to date of a popular composer’s songbook in this blighted era of the jukebox musical…A uniformly excellent American cast that wears its roles like confining and prickly skins.”

Go and see this award-winning show, certainly, but check the day of, to make sure the weather hasn’t scuppered your plans. 

Albert Lee

Wednesday, January 24, 7 p.m. at The Sportsmen’s Tavern, Buffalo, NY, $30. 

On June 19, 1982, I was 14, and not really aware of how lucky I was to be standing on the grounds of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, watching Albert Lee perform as part of Eric Clapton’s band. I had no idea who the guy was going in, though I later realized that I’d read profiles on him in Guitar Player Magazine, and thought he looked cool, even if I’d never heard him play a note. (This mattered to me, at the time. A lot.)  

In the era in question, it wasn’t like I could pick up my phone and check out Albert Lee’s entire discography on some streaming service. So I didn’t know what I was in for. 

After witnessing Lee pretty much mopping the floor with Clapton for the better part of 2 hours, I became a devoted Lee fan, and I’ve stayed one since. In terms of roots-based music, the guy truly has few peers. 

While you’re at the Sportsmen’s Tavern enjoying the blessing that is Albert Lee in concert, be sure to tip a glass to the recently departed Ken Biringer, Sportsmen’s talent booker, and the man responsible for developing what is by now a long-term relationship between Lee and the Sportsmen’s.  Here’s to you, Kenny.

Also worth your time and money this week…

Organ Fairchild Plays Grateful Dead, Saturday, January 20, 8 p.m. at Buffalo Iron Works, $15/$20

The Music of Led Zeppelin with the BPO; Randy Jackson – vocals, Bradley Thachuk – conductor, Friday, January 19, 7:30 p.m. at Kleinhans Music Hall, $12 – $91

Come Back to Earth: A Tribute to Mac Miller, Friday, January 19, 8 p.m. at Buffalo Iron Works, $20/$25

A Night of R&B with D’Mott, Thursday, January 18 at the 9th Ward @ Babeville, GA seated – $55

MNM Presents G Jones: Paths Live w/ Imanu, Koan Sound, Sayer, Thursday, January 18, 8 p.m. at the Town Ballroom, $34.50

After Dark Presents Metalcore Dropouts featuring Fit for a King & The Devil Wears Prada, Tuesday, January 23, 6 p.m. at the Town Ballroom, $29.50