Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Yussef Dayes returns with two new singles, “Marching Band,” featuring Jamaican-American singer/saxophonist Masego, and “Tioga Pass,” featuring longtime collaborator and bass guitarist Rocco Palladino, both from his upcoming debut solo album, Black Classical Music, due September 8. You can watch visualizers for both tracks here. The arrival of new music is paired with the announcement of Dayes’ month-long US autumn tour, starting in Brooklyn on November 16.

The 71st DownBeat Critics Poll results are in, and among the winners are Mary Halvorson, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Rhiannon Giddens. Halvorson’s Nonesuch debut albums, Amaryllis & Belladonna, have been named Jazz Album of the Year, and Halvorson herself Guitarist of the Year; Salvant is Female Vocalist of the Year; and Giddens has won in the Beyond Artist or Group field.

The nominations for the Edison Klassiek and Jazz Awards in the Netherlands have been announced, including four Nonesuch recordings: Julia Bullock’s Walking in the Dark for Solo Vocal in the Klassiek awards; Mary Halvorson’s Belladonna and Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade’s LongGone for Jazz International Instrumental; and Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Mélusine for Jazz International Vocal—the award she won last year for her Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song.

Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, begins a two-week, full-band headline tour of the US next week with support from Squirrel Flower followed by a week-long duo acoustic tour of the UK with support from Katie Malco. It all starts with a show at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville July 12, followed by concerts in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Delaware, DC, Kentucky, Iowa, and Missouri, as well as sets at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, La Fête de Marquette in Wisconsin, and the Calgary Folk Festival. The UK tour kicks off with a sold-out show at Omeara in London on August 11, followed by shows in Oxford, Hebden Bridge, Manchester, and Brighton. Segarra then heads to Norway for sets at the Pstereo and Parken festivals. 

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, while at the Railbird Festival in Lexington, KY, earlier this month, performed a live session for Holler. The set includes two songs from their upcoming album, City of Gold—“Down Home Dispensary” and “Next Rodeo”—and a new song, “Wild Things.” “What's most evident ... is the unspoken synergy Tuttle has found with her like-minded friends in the band,” writes Holler’s Ross Jones. “You'll find it hard to find another band that are having as much fun doing what they do as a group than these five, and it's a pleasure to witness." You can watch it here.

Composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue and his Secret Society ensemble make their Nonesuch Records debut with Dynamic Maximum Tension on September 8. The album pays homage to some of Argue’s key influences with original songs dedicated to R. Buckminster Fuller, Alan Turing, and Mae West. Cécile McLorin Salvant joins for “Mae West: Advice.” You can watch the ensemble perform the album track “Dymaxion”—a portmanteau of “dynamic maximum tension”—from the song’s recording session, here.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway have released “San Joaquin,” a new song from their upcoming album, City of Gold, due July 21. "I’ve always loved singing songs about trains, and this one takes place in my home state of California," Tuttle says. "Ketch [Secor] and I had the idea for writing ‘San Joaquin’ while looking at a map of different train lines that run through the state. Ketch loves writing geographical songs, and I have many fond memories of road trips taken through the Central Valley when I was a kid, so we dreamed up this story of a wild ride down the San Joaquin railway.” You can watch the video and a live performance of the track here.

Congratulations to Julia Bullock and Steve Reich, who have each won an Opus Klassik award in Germany for their 2022 Nonesuch albums: Bullock as Breakout Artist of the Year for her debut solo album, Walking in the Dark, and Reich in the Symphonic Recording of the Year category for Runner / Music for Ensemble and Orchestra, performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Susanna Mälkki. The awards ceremony will take place at the Konzerthaus in Berlin on October 8, televised in Germany by ZDF.

Natalie Merchant is the guest on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast. She talks with host Hrishikesh Hirway about "Sister Tilly," breaking down the song from her new album, Keep Your Courage. The song was arranged by Gabriel Kahane. You can hear what Merchant had to say here.

"This was the first song we recorded together in the studio, and it was the one that set the tone for the rest of the week," Rhiannon Giddens says of "You Louisiana Man," a newly released song from her upcoming album, You're the One. "Like kids on the first day of school, we were feeling out everyone in the room musically, and in that moment it all clicked.” You can watch the video, filmed in the studio while the album was being recorded, here. Giddens has announced a European tour for February 2024 following her previously announced US tour.

Natalie Merchant stopped by ABC's Good Morning America to perform "Come On, Aphrodite" and "Tower of Babel" from her new album, Keep Your Courage. She was joined by Abena Koomson-Davis of Resistance Revival Chorus, who also performs on the album. You can watch both performances here.

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Yussef Dayes has released the video for his new single, “Rust,” featuring longtime collaborator and friend Tom Misch, from his upcoming debut solo album, Black Classical Music, due September 8. You can watch the animated video, directed by Jack Brown, here.