Joshua Redman's new album, Compass, released last month, features pieces for trio, a format he had explored on his previous release, Back East, as well as the bold combination of all five members of its two separate trios into a double trio. In the March issue of JazzTimes magazine, writer Jeff Tamarkin talks to Redman about his taking "the trio concept to another place altogether," as he "ups the ante on the standard trio model" for Compass.

Rokia Traoré is the subject of a feature interview on Pitchfork today, in which the Malian singer-songwriter now living in France discusses her career and describes the inspiration and influences behind her latest Nonesuch release, Tchamantché. "Over 10 years and four incredibly well-received albums," says Pitchfork, "Rokia Traoré has become one of world music's great synthesizers, combining the rhythms and traditions of diverse cultures from Africa and Europe into a complex sound that only she could create."

Steve Reich, Glenn Kotche and Bang on a Can All-Stars, and Alarm Will Sound help celebrate the opening of Lincoln Center's spectacularly revamped Alice Tully Hall Starr Theater with a marathon evening of performances titled New York, New Music, New Hall tonight. Kotche and Bang on a Can give the New York premiere of his piece Mobile, and Steve Reich & Musicians with Synergy Vocals perform Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. It's all part of the Center's two-week Opening Nights Festival to inaugurate the new space.

Pat Carney, The Black Keys drummer, has teamed up with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Art Spiegelman, for an animated short video showcasing Spiegelman's latest book, Be a Nose! Carney has created what Pitchfork calls "a mordant psych-groove instrumental" for Spiegelman's animated drawings. "Vintage-sounding breakbeats you might expect to find sampled on some lost trip-hop or abstract hip-hop record help soak up guitar fuzz, heavy bass, and droning organ."

Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe have announced an intimate, three-week tour of Europe to begin with three nights at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in mid-June. Cooder and Lowe’s working relationship began in the late 1980s, and following two benefit performances together at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last year—featuring a selection of work from both their celebrated careers—the pair have decided to take their show on the road. They will be joined by Flaco Jimenez on accordion, Joachim Cooder on drums, and vocalist Juliette Commagere.

Félicitations à Rokia Traoré. Tchamantché, her latest Tama/Nonesuch release, received the Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of the Grammy Award, for Best World Album. The ceremony was held this past Saturday night at the Zenith in Paris and was broadcast live on French national television.

John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic receives its UK premiere tonight in the English National Opera production at the London Coliseum. The production, based on the Metropolitan Opera's New York premiere last fall, is directed by Penny Woolcock and stars Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, and Sasha Cooke as his wife, Kitty Oppenheimer. Conductor Lawrence Renes leads the ENO Orchestra and Chorus in the performances, which run through March 20.

Dan Auerbach's newly released solo record, Keep It Hid, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart, a list of the week's best-performing albums from new artists. The Independent gives it four stars, citing the album's "broad sweep of blues styles" and Dan's vocals, channeling "the haunted quality of an authentic soul singer." The Cleveland Plain Dealer gives an A- to the new record, which sees Dan "cutting loose with a marvelous solo debut ... Crank it up."

Rokia Traoré is the subject of a feature article in the Financial Times that examines the life and career of "Mali’s most ambitious, experimental singer," in particular her place in a culture in which musical roles are often strictly defined by tradition and deep-rooted tastes. The article closes at a soundcheck in a London club in which Rokia and her band are getting ready to play, and even with the day's distractions, "when Traoré sings quietly, more to herself than to anyone else, the room is hers and hers alone."

John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic is set to receive its UK premiere next Wednesday, February 25, in the English National Opera's production at the London Coliseum. New Statesman spoke with the composer about the piece, with its "shatteringly powerful" music, and about his place as "the leading American composer of his generation, still in full creative flow, prolific and inventive." The article examines Adams's operas, from his first, Nixon in China, which "transformed the world of opera," to his latest, the "shimmeringly beautiful" A Flowering Tree.

John Adams will be a featured composer of the Barbican Centre's 2009–10 season in a special John Adams Focus series next year. It will include six Adams works over six performances next February to July, featuring four UK premieres and two concerts with the composer leading the London Symphony Orchestra. The Times (UK) talks to Adams about his operas, with Doctor Atomic set to receive its UK premiere by the English National Opera next week.

Youssou N'Dour is partnering with IntraHealth International, the non-profit working to promote sustainable, accessible health care around the world, on a charity album titled OPEN Remix. It will benefit a new IntraHealth OPEN Initiative, created to address critical health issues in Africa by putting the latest open-source software technologies directly in the hands of health workers. Nas, Duncan Sheik, Peter Buck, and other artists have joined Youssou in the effort, donating remixes of his song "Wake Up (It's Africa Calling)" to raise funds and visibility for the new initiative.