Toumani, ever the griot, embraces its educational component with a number of pre- and post-performance demonstrations and Q&As at university concerts, like tonight's at UMass, Amherst. He and his Symmetric Orchestra performed in New York City last weekend, which the Village Voice describes as "a decidedly extroverted, celebratory affair," such that midway in, "the band and crowd were at a full lather, ebullient and ecstatic." Time Out New York says: "By the end of the main set, the stage was flooded with audience members, dancing feverishly, arms and legs flailing. The show built to a roar; the crowd jumped to its feet, passionately cheering."

Sara Watkins returns to New York City, the site of her recent appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, this time to play the Mercury Lounge on the Lower East Side. Time Out New York's "The Volume" blog says you "know you’re in good hands" right from the start of Sara's recently released Nonesuch debut, to its closer: "its simplicity hurts, in a good way." Sara and all the musicians who make guest turns on the album, including its producer John Paul Jones, are to be credited as well: "Their mellow, sweet sound shimmers like the sun on dust motes."

Allen Toussaint's Nonesuch solo debut album, The Bright Mississippi is set for release tomorrow. "Mr. Toussaint brings to these songs his own elegant, reserved sensibility," says the New York Times. "He doesn’t rip them apart or interrogate them on the harmonic or rhythmic terms with which they’ve usually been met; he shines them up and levels them out into slow-rolling and grandiloquent New Orleans songs, full of tremolo chords and serenity no matter whether they were written by Duke Ellington or Thelonious Monk or Django Reinhardt." The Chicago Tribune gives four stars to the "top-notch" new album; The Independent gives it four stars too and describes Toussaint as "the jewel in New Orleans's crown," citing one track as "a bravura performance that bears out Van Dyke Parks's estimation of Toussaint as 'the greatest piano player alive.'"

Wilco helped mark national Record Store Day this past Saturday with the limited release of their new concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, through independent music retailers and on nonesuch.com. Fans in Knoxville got to celebrate up-close with Wilco as the band signed copies of the DVD at the local store The Disc Exchange, video coverage of which was posted online by the Knoxville News. Jeff Tweedy spoke with Spin about Wilco's forthcoming studio album, due out in late spring, described as "a mix of pastoral Americana rock (think 2007's Sky Blue Sky) and experimental studio sounds (2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)."

David Byrne brings "breahtlessly brilliant" concert (Evening Standard) to the Continent ... Leila Josefowicz play's Adams Violin Concerto with Houston ... Laurie Anderson puts life in focus at Rubin Museum talk ... New World Symphony premieres Andriessen's Vermeer Pictures ... Assads, Salerno-Sonnenberg revisit Gypsy music ... Black Keys play Coachella's main stage ... Carolina Chocolate Drops do Southern festivals, Record Store Day in-store ... Toumani Diabaté does two nights at NYC's Poisson Rouge ... Philip Glass plays northern New England ... Emmylou Harris visits DogTown ... Fred Hersch sets the Jazz Standard ... k.d. lang plays the Canadian Maritimes ... Mandy Patinkin & Patti LuPone do Detroit ... Keersmaker troupe dances to Reich in Dresden ... Sara Watkins plays Vanderbilt ... Wilco releases DVD, signs copies at Knoxville shop for Record Store Day ... and more ...

Wilco has unveiled new concert dates as part of their upcoming North American summer tour, including concerts at four East Coast ballparks; shows in London and Dublin have also been added to their August European dates. The new concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, is out this Saturday at independent retailers nationwide and in the Nonesuch Store. To celebrate the DVD release and to lend support to independent record stores, the band will make an in-store appearance at Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN, Saturday at 2 PM.

For the past few days, Wilco has made a home-away-from-home in a very welcoming Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including Jeff Tweedy's first pitch in Monday's Brewers game and a sixth-inning sausage race with Glenn Kotche and Mikael Jorgensen. Wilco also played the first of two sold-out nights at the Pabst Theater last night, in which, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says, the band "gave a dusty jewel of a performance," concluding of this "gorgeous patchwork quilt of the set" that "when the entire band converged ... the music exploded beautifully." Tonight's show will be webcast live on wilcoworld.net.

Toumani Diabaté wrapped up his tour with Béla Fleck's Africa Project last week to kick off his own US tour with the Symmetric Orchestra this week in New Jersey and New York City. "The Symmetrics deliver a jubilant polyrhythmic party of percussion, electric guitars," says The Village Voice, "and Diabaté's 21-stringed instrument showering notes like a musical waterfall." Fleck and Diabaté are featured on NPR's Morning Edition; on which Renée Montagne describes, after a performance by Toumani: "I could sit all day and listen to that."

Ashes of American Flags, the new Wilco concert film directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, makes its New York debut tonight in a special screening at the IFC Center. It's part of Movie Night with Fred Armisen; the SNL cast member will also discuss the film with its directors. Wilco kicks off an extensive US tour tomorrow night in the first of two sold-out shows at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, after throwing out the first ball at the Brewers game tonight.

After releasing her debut solo album last week, Sara Watkins took to the road for the start of a monthlong tour in support of the new record. She played with Old Crow Medicine Show through the weekend, and tonight, she performs "Long Hot Summer Days" off the new album on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with the album's producer, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Look for support to come from Jimmy's house band, The Roots, as well.

David Byrne takes his "relentlessly captivating" (Observer) tour to Nottingham and London ... Afro-Cuban All Stars closes out US tour in Miami ... Laurie Anderson performs at Dutch art & tech fest ... Dan Auerbach ends Aussie tour at Boogie Festival ... Christina Courtin opens for Robin Hitchcock in NYC ... Toumani Diabaté plays two more shows with Béla Fleck ... Bill Frisell plays Chi-town and Minneapolis ... k.d. lang heads home for Canada tour ... The Low Anthem plays northern New England with Ray LaMontagne ... Brad Mehldau solos in Tunisia ... Orchestra Baobab plays the Netherlands ... Joshua Redman Trio sets up shop in Seattle residency ... Sara Watkins joins Old Crow Medicine Show in Atlanta ... Wilco concert film premieres in Seattle ... and more ...

Sara Watkins, whose self-titled solo debut was released on Nonesuch earlier this week, and the album's producer, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, are featured in a multimedia look at the album in the Wall Street Journal online. No Depression describes the album as "preternatural" for "its gossamer vocals and heavenly instrumentation," lauding Sara's "seamless interaction with a stellar cast of accompanists" and exclaiming: "From the haunting opening strains of [the album opener], you know you're in the presence of an artist working on a deeper level than your average new grasser."