Sam Gendel's Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, due March 13, is a futuristic homage to historical jazz. Here, Gendel speaks with writer Sophie Harris about the album, a sonic construction / deconstruction of well-known jazz standards like Miles Davis's "Freddie Freeloader," Charles Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll."

Rachael & Vilray are guests on the latest episode of NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The duo spoke with Fresh Air producer Sam Briger and performed several songs from their self-titled debut album. "I'm glad Sam introduced me to their music," host Terry Gross says in her introduction, "and I think you'll enjoy it too." You can hear the session here.

Gaby Moreno's Nonesuch debut album, ¡Spangled!, a collaboration with Van Dyke Parks, was released late last year. Moreno marked the album's release with a concert at Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Hall in NYC on December 2, as part of the Ecstatic Music series. She was joined by Metropolis Ensemble and LADAMA, the all-women Latin alternative band, to perform Parks' arrangements of songs from the album. You can now watch seven songs from the concert here.

The celebrated production of David Byrne’s American Utopia will return to Broadway’s Hudson Theatre in September 2020. The current run ends today; tickets for the return engagement are on sale now. “It’s become obvious to us in the band, the crew and the producer team that audiences want—dare I say need?—to see this show," Byrne says. "They’re not ready to have it disappear just yet. We feel the same way, we love doing this show. So, it’s thrilling to us that we can announce that we’ll be back in September.” He will perform with the American Utopia Broadway musicians on Saturday Night Live on February 29.

k.d. lang gave her inimitable rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" to a sold-out crowd at ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday for the Fire Fight Australia concert to benefit Australian bushfire relief, hosted by Celeste Barber. The audience, in the words of 7News Australia, “was brought to a standstill by a haunting performance" from lang. You can watch it here and see why.

Sam Phillips's critically acclaimed 2001 Nonesuch debut album, Fan Dance, is now available on vinyl, as a fan-selected title on Run Out Groove. Remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl, the LP comes in an old-school tip-on style jacket with booklet, limited and individually numbered. The Boston Globe calls it "a stunning work of intimacy and emotional range."

Pat Metheny has released “Same River,” a new track from his forthcoming album, From This Place, due February 21 on Nonesuch; it can be heard here. This follows the release of the album tracks "Wide and Far," “America Undefined,” and "You Are." All four songs can be downloaded now with pre-orders of From This Place on vinyl and CD in the Pat Metheny Store and Nonesuch Store, and are available to stream.

Early James released the new music video for “High Horse,” the latest single from his upcoming debut album, Singing for My Supper, due March 13 on Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records. The video, directed by Tim Hardiman, premiered via Rolling Stone Country, which says his "voice has a similar pockmarked, raspy quality and jazzy inflection to early Tom Waits." James says: "The song is a slightly comedic and regretful retrospective on how your childhood goes by so quickly and time changes your wants, needs and habits." You can watch the video here.

Sam Gendel has released the title track to his forthcoming Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, and a video for the same. The video, shot by Senzo Ueno, finds Gendel in Tokyo with special guests Beast Car Club Classixfour and a 1964 Impala SS lowrider. "This recording is the first take of the first tune ever performed by this group, no edits; I just happened to hit record," says Gendel. "It is the empirical formula of the album and that's all there is to it."

Jeff Parker's new album, Suite for Max Brown, is "a demonstration of how jazz mixes it up with other musics these days," says NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross music critic Kevin Whitehead. "Parker invokes his days as a crate-diving club DJ, a job where you can juxtapose beats from all over as long as they serve or creatively stem the flow." You can hear the review here.
 

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi were on RTÉ One’s Tommy Tiernan Show in Ireland on Saturday to perform "Wayfaring Stranger." You can watch it here. The song is on their album there is no Other, which they recorded in Dublin. They return to Dublin to give a concert at Vicar Street in July, after a residency at SFJAZZ; touring Australia, New Zealand, and Japan; Giddens' receiving an honorary degree from UNC Greensboro; and performances of her opera Omar at Spoleto Festival.

Gabriel Kahane begins an eleven-city tour of Europe at the Philharmonie Luxembourg on Saturday. The tour, featuring songs from his album Book of Travelers, continues with stops throughout France, Germany, Netherlands, and Finland, culminating at Konservatoriets Koncertsal in Copenhagen on February 25.