Today marks the release of American Tunes, a new studio album by legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, on Nonesuch Records. Toussaint had just completed the album when he passed away in November of last year during a European tour. Recording took place at two sets of sessions with producer Joe Henry: solo piano at Toussaint's New Orleans home studio in 2013, and with the rhythm section of Jay Bellerose and David Piltch—joined by guests Bill Frisell, Charles Lloyd, Greg Leisz, Rhiannon Giddens, and Van Dyke Parks—in Los Angeles in October 2015. The album comprises solo performances of Professor Longhair tunes and band arrangements of songs by Toussaint, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Paul Simon, and others. You can watch a preview below.

American Tunes is available now at iTunes, Amazon, and in the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include an instant download of the complete album; the album is also available to purchase there in MP3, FLAC, 96kHz/24bit HD digital formats, and in a two-LP vinyl version, which includes three bonus tracks.

Also available today is a vinyl reissue of Allen Toussaint's 2009 Nonesuch Records debut album, The Bright Mississippi. On that album, also produced by Joe Henry, Toussaint explores the work of his New Orleans forebears on a soulful, live-in-the-studio jazz set that the Washington Post calls an "exquisite" album, one that reveals his "great flair and imagination as an interpreter and performer."

Allen Toussaint performed Paul Simon's "American Tune" on PBS's Austin City Limits following the release of The Bright Mississippi in 2009. He later recorded the song for what would become the posthumously released album American Tunes. It was the last track cut in the final session for the disc. You can watch the Austin City Limits performance here:

American Tunes has been met with its own critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Allen Toussaint sings just once on his final album, American Tunes, but it's a moment worth savoring," writes New York Times music critic Nate Chinen. "The song is Paul Simon's 'American Tune,' a secular hymn of perseverance ..." Chinen later makes note of the songs on the album written or made famous by Professor Longhair. "The dignified calm with which Mr. Toussaint plays these rollicking tunes almost suggests a sleight-of-hand: he’s not showing you how much work it takes to make this music sound so effortless." Read the review at nytimes.com.

The Los Angeles Times, in its Essential Summer Music Guide, says the album "is a rich pianistic tour de force of American music." Reviewer Randy Lewis concludes: "It’s a gorgeous, grace-filled journey through the history of American popular music by one of its most artful proponents."

The Times of London gives it a perfect five stars. "[A] gorgeous final album," writes Times reviewer Chris Pearson. "An impeccably judged playlist takes us through the history of jazz and blues piano. In paying tribute to other pianists, Toussaint crafted an exquisite epitaph for himself. Swan songs don't get any better." The Sunday Times adds its own accolades, with reviewer Clive Davis stating: "Toussaint bowed out in style. Even more beguiling than 2009's The Bright Mississippi. American Tunes amounts to a miniature history of popular music, from blues to jazz to fun. Essential."

Uncut magazine calls it "the perfect eulogy for one of America's true musical greats." MOJO gives American Tunes four stars and says: "Toussaint's elegant mastery of the 88s is front and centre here." Q magazine gives it four stars as well. "A master's farewell sweepingly surveys America's musical century in 88 keys," writes Q reviewer Mat Snow. "[A] wonderful album showcasing his mastery of pianistic romance, witticism and flourish."

American Tunes also earns four stars in the Daily Mirror, Scottish Daily Express, and Irish Times. "A fitting testimony to Allen’s ineffable touch on the piano, weaving an alluring tapestry," says the Daily Mirror. The Scottish Daily Express says: "The release of Toussaint's final studio album is something to savour. A fitting finale." And the Irish Times, naming it Album of the Week, asserts: "American Tunes is pretty close to a perfect final curtain even if he didn't plan it that way."

The album was featured on Southern California Public Radio station KPCC's Take Two. "This is American music, a river running from the pre-Joplin cakewalks of Louis Moreau Gottschalk to Fats Waller to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn to Bill Evans to Professor Longhair—all given remarkable new life through the musical mind and masterful fingers of New Orleans giant Allen Toussaint. As such, it makes for a perfect, if sadly premature epitaph for Toussaint," says Take Two's Steve Hochman. "[I]t's Toussaint's deceptively graceful approach that elevates every piece ... His life was a truly American tune. An American symphony."

Producer Joe Henry spoke with the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the album. "There's a real overview of the total landscape of American music. There's gospel and jazz and blues and folk music and parlor music all referenced," Henry said. "I most wanted to keep in mind ... that anybody approaching this music hear Allen." He also spoke with The Gambit in New Orleans, which calls the album "Allen Toussaint's beautiful parting gift."

Henry spoke with Music Aficionado as well. American Tunes is "a perfect, if unintended epitaph," writes the site's Steve Hochman. "[I]t showcases the lesser-known side of Toussaint—that of a masterful pianist and interpreter." Hochman says it's "the pinnacle of a close relationship" between Henry and Toussaint.