While sheltering at home with his family during the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, pianist and composer Brad Mehldau wrote twelve new songs about what he was experiencing; he was able to record them safely in a studio, together with interpretations of three tunes that mean a great deal to him personally. The resulting album, Suite: April 2020, is available now as a limited-edition deluxe 180-gram vinyl LP. One thousand numbered and signed copies are available for $100 exclusively from the Nonesuch Store, Bandcamp, and Discogs; a minimum of $90 from each sale will be donated to the Jazz Foundation of America’s COVID-19 Musician’s Emergency Fund (after distribution fees). Suite: April 2020 is also available digitally today, with CD and standard vinyl editions due September 18; a portion of their sales also will benefit JFA’s Fund. A video for the album track “remembering before all this,” with an introduction by Mehldau, is available here.

The Magnetic Fields' new album, Quickies, which was released digitally earlier this month, is now available in a five 7" vinyl box set. You can take a quick look inside in the unboxing video here. The album is twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, performed by Merritt and band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, along with longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman. "Miniature gems," says the Guardian. "Extraordinary." A single CD is available outside the US now and will be in the US June 19.

Nonesuch releases its fourth recording from pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan, The Call Within, on August 28, 2020. On the album, he performs ten original compositions, with Evan Marien on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. Produced by Hamasyan, The Call Within is a journey into his dreamlike inner world, taking inspiration from his interest in maps from different eras, poetry, Armenian folk stories, astrology, geometry, ancient Armenian design, rock carvings, and cinematography. Pre-order to download the album track “Levitation 21,” a video for which can be seen here; Nonesuch Store pre-orders also include an exclusive, limited-edition print.

I Still Play, an album of eleven new solo piano compositions written by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, is now available. The pieces were written in honor of the label's longtime President Bob Hurwitz on the occasion of his 2017 shift into the Chairman Emeritus role. This "all-star collection" (Financial Times) features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman, performed by Andres, Mehldau, Newman, and Jeremy Denk. A new video of Andres performing his own piece, "Wise Words," on which you can follow along in the score, is also available here.

The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies—twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt—is now available digitally on Nonesuch Records, with a five 7" vinyl box set due May 29 and a single CD on June 19. "Pop's pithiest songwriter strikes again," says Uncut, with "twenty-eight delightfully barbed Merritt miniatures." A video for the track "I've Got a Date with Jesus," featuring footage shot by the band, was also released today and can be seen here. The Magnetic Fields are due to perform at City Winery venues across the US in early 2021.

British singer/songwriter/guitarist Lianne La Havas releases Lianne La Havas, her first album since 2015’s Blood, July 17 on Nonesuch in the US. La Havas performed the new album track "Paper Thin," along with the previously released album track “Bittersweet” and “Midnight” from Blood in a NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, which also premiered today and can be seen here. Lianne La Havas is available to pre-order on limited-edition clear vinyl, standard vinyl, and CD in the Nonesuch Store.

Mountain Man has released Mountain Man Sings Kacey Musgraves, the latest in its series of cover singles, featuring its version of “Slow Burn” from Musgraves’ 2018 album, Golden Hour. "We are all huge fans of Kacey Musgraves,” says the band. "'Slow Burn' embodies the magic of the unfolding of life, the power of being present and patient and knowing that sometimes things just take time. Like following a thread—it requires attention and curiosity.”

Randy Newman’s new song, “Stay Away,” a PSA about COVID-19 safety, is now available to purchase and stream. Proceeds will benefit the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans, a city to which Newman has a deep, lifelong personal connection. "New Orleans is really suffering, and since African Americans are taking the brunt of the punishment, I thought something to help the Ninth Ward would be a good idea,” Newman said. “The Ellis Marsalis Center has a great reputation among musicians and people I know who live in the city. If the song makes a great deal of money, all bets are off.”

On May 22, Nonesuch releases I Still Play, an album of eleven new solo piano compositions by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, written in honor of the label’s longtime President Bob Hurwitz as he became Chairman Emeritus in 2017. The album features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman, performed by Andres, Mehldau, Newman, and Jeremy Denk. Pre-order to download Nico Muhly's "Move" played by Andres now; you can follow along on the score as you watch him perform it here.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman (saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with the July 10, 2020, release of RoundAgain, the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing. The album features seven newly composed songs: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade. A live version of Redman’s “Right Back Round Again” may be seen here, in a video directed by Matthew Beighley; the album version is available now. The band tours internationally this summer and fall.

Sam Gendel's Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, is out now. On this futuristic homage to historical jazz, three musicians—Gendel on saxophone, Gabe Noel on electric bass, and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion—engage in simultaneous synchronized sonic construction / deconstruction of jazz standards, including songs by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Duke Ellington. "A woozy, blissfully twisted album," says the Los Angeles Times. "The avant-garde trailblazer pushes the boat out to glorious extremes," says the Guardian. "A searing new language for sax." Gendel has released a new video for the track "Glide Mode," which you can watch here.

Early James's debut album, Singing for My Supper, is out now on Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records. The album spans hard-charging blues, wistful folk, and ages-old pop crooning, anchored by the singer's voice that oscillates from gravel-gruff shout to a honey-smooth whisper. Early James "dazzles on his luminous debut," says Mojo, "this astonishingly assured album."