An area great that Jazz News calls “exceptionally illuminating,” trumpet and flugelhorn master Manny Lopez performs with his Manny Lopez Septet in the latest event in Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series, the musicians' January 20 Redstone Room concert treating fans to the singular jazz stylings that have thrilled local audiences for more than four decades.

Armed with iconic hits such as “Hold On Loosely,” “Rockin' into the Night,” and “Caught Up in You,” the touring musicians of 38 Special bring their singular brand of exhilarating Southern rock to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on January 19, continuing the legacy of the band's four-decades-plus history in the company of 38 Special vocalist/guitarist Don Barnes, who began with the group in 1975.

Owen, January 18

Mike Kinsella, who performs locally as a Moeller Nights headliner on January 18, records solo music under the moniker Owen, and the Chicago-based living legend earned his stripes over decades of peerless songwriting at the front, or co-front, of projects who would come to define then-emerging, '90s-born styles such as emo, indie rock, and math rock.

Minneapolis-based label Northern Parallels aligns a crew of DJs and producers for a January 18 showcase at Rozz-Tox. Based on recent mixes posted by featured DJ Colin Cook, one spearhead of the IowaTechno collective out of Cedar Rapids, and the melting atmospheric tracks of featured producer Mike Derer, the night looks to be a certified banger.

The passionate vocals of singer Alyssa Niemiec sit front and center in the music of Madison, Wisconsin-based rock quintet Skyline Sounds (playing Rozz-Tox on January 11), leaping from their songs in arcs of cascading melody and criss-crossing harmonies.

Performing what OnMilwaukee.com calls “a supreme blend of traditional country, Americana, and contemporary folk styles,” Wisconsin's alt-country five-piece Buffalo Gospel headlines a Moeller Nights concert on January 11 in support of its most recent album On the First Bell, a work the Web site decress “worthy of not only a listen, but a permanent place on your playlist.”

Two Midwestern ensembles will deliver one special night of bluegrass, folk, and timeless Grateful Dead tunes when Davenport's Redstone Room hosts a shared headliner concert on January 10, with Iowa City's Winterland performing the '60s and '70s classics of Jerry Garcia's legendary band and Minneapolis' Kind Country playing exhiliaring covers and classics.

Delivering what Exclaim.ca descibed as “good, and at times great, diverse, lowbrow, knuckle-dragging, abrasive, raunchy, testosterone-fuelled, rowdy rock and roll,” the touring talents of Mondo Generator play the Rock Island Brewing Company on January 11, with the band's founder and frontman Nick Oliveri a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist famed as a member of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Dwarves.

Delivering what the artist herself describes as “rock 'n' roll with a dreamer's soul,” Milwaukee-based chanteuse Abby Jeanne and her ensemble serve as Moeller Nights headliners in support of their sophomore release Music Box Dancer, the January 12 concert demonstrating why the Milwaukee Record said of Jeanne, “Her soulful voice is drenched in raw emotion, love, and on-point dynamics.”

On January 13, a pair of master musicians will unite for Chamber Music Quad Cities' winter program The Recital, an enchanting afternoon program in which Chicago-based violinist Robert Chen and Davenport-based pianist Benjamin Loeb perform magnificent sonatas by Beethoven and Strauss complemented by compositions from Clara Schumann and Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.

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