“The Kronos Quartet in the world of classical music are like The Beatles,” says Tom Power, host of CBC’s Q. “They pack rooms all around the world. They’ve been doing it for 50 years now. And those rooms are filled with people who don’t typically listen to classical music. So ... what have they figured out?” Kronos Quartet artistic director, founder, and violinist David Harrington spoke with Power and tries to answer that question, among others. You can hear their conversation here.

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE, of the film Paddington 2 and the dramatic series Unforgotten, gives an unforgettable recitation of the lyrics to Rachael & Vilray’s song “Hate Is the Basis (of Love),” from their new album, I Love a Love Song!, out now on Nonesuch Records. You can watch it here.

Brad Mehldau sat down with Qobuz’s Marc Zisman to discuss his new live solo album, Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles, and the challenges of translating the Beatles into solo piano music, as well as his childhood listening habits, moving to Los Angeles in his twenties, what makes a song universal, chasing inspiration, his influences and mentors, and more. You can watch the video here. 

Sam Gendel's new album, COOKUP, is out now. On the album, Gendel and his friends and collaborators Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson interpret R&B and soul hits originally released between 1992 and 2004 by Ginuwine, 112, Aaliyah, All-4-One, Soul 4 Real, Beyoncé, Joe, Erykah Badu, Mario, SWV, and Boyz II Men. Gendel says: "For this occasion we hovered over a particular flavor: jams that we grew up with. We sculpted in sound our collective memories of this music. Meshell Ndegeocello [featured on vocals on the track "Anywhere"] took the 112 to another dimension (shoutout wayne12)."

Congratulations to k.d. lang, who has been named a recipient of the 2023 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada’s highest honor in the performing arts. The award recognizes artists for having made an indelible contribution to cultural life in Canada and around the world. The six 2023 laureates will be honored at an Awards Gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Saturday, May 27. "I can’t even actually fathom being placed in the same company as the people, the artists who have influenced me so tremendously,” lang says. "Canada has such an embarrassment of riches, so many tremendous artists, and to be bestowed with this honor is unthinkable really ... So, thank you."

Congratulations to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sam Gendel, Jeff Parker, and Makaya McCraven, who have all been nominated for Deutscher Jazzpreis in Germany: Salvant for International Vocal Album for her Ghost Song; Gendel and Parker for International String Instruments; and McCraven for International Drums/Percussion. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Bremen on April 27.

Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer Makaya McCraven stopped by Amoeba Music in San Francisco for a shopping trip and a chat for Amoeba’s What’s in My Bag? series, in which he picks up music by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Billy Cobham, Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Yusef Lateef & Archie Shepp, NNAMDÏ, Charles Stepney, Thelonius Monk & John Coltrane, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers featuring Wynton Marsalis, Harvey Mason, Augustus Pablo & King Tubby, Bobby Broom, Joshua Abrams' Cloud Script, and Miles Davis. You can take a look inside here.

Hurray for the Riff Raff—aka Alynda Segarra—has released an acoustic version of “SAGA,” a song from their acclaimed 2022 Nonesuch debut album, LIFE ON EARTH. You can watch a lyric video for the track here. 

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023, and included among the special releases on that day are the previously unreleased full-length live recording of The Black Keys' very first show at Beachland Tavern in Cleveland in 2002, on tangerine-colored vinyl; the first-ever vinyl release of The Magnetic Fields’ 2004 Nonesuch debut album, i, on gold-colored vinyl; and an alternate version of Wilco's landmark album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, featuring unique performances of all eleven songs, originally released as a bonus CD with the September 2022 issue of Uncut.

Natalie Merchant's new single, “Come On, Aphrodite,” featuring singer Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus), is out now. It's the first track released from Merchant’s upcoming album, Keep Your Courage, and establishes the record’s themes of love and passion as essential to the human experience. Merchant’s ninth solo studio album, and the first new material since 2014’s self-titled record, Keep Your Courage is set for release on April 14 on Nonesuch. She will tour the US starting this spring; European dates will be announced shortly.

Composer John Adams, in two new videos from his publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, talks about his early experiences with music and finding his voice as a composer. In the first video, he shares some childhood experiences that led him to want to become a composer. In the second, he recounts a crisis of musical identity he went through in his 20s and 30s and how he found his own musical language, informed by the minimalist pioneers, jazz, Stravinsky, and others.

Brad Mehldau has shared videos of him performing and discussing "Golden Slumbers" from his new album, Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles, at New York’s Village Vanguard. You can watch both here. It's the third and final in a series of such videos from the album, following the title track performance and discussion and his "I Am the Walrus" performance and discussion. “'Golden Slumbers,’ certainly ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Let It Be’ are songs that, for me, feel like ... something church like. Maybe it has something to do with the cadences that are in there. They’re just so righteous,” Mehldau says. “For me, it has a healing quality.”