Brad Mehldau begins a five-night residency at New York's Birdland tonight with a quartet the New York Times calls an "all-star package"—Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, and Charlie Haden—to celebrate the venue's 60th anniversary. In January, Brad returns to New York to perform two solo sets at the Highline Ballroom to benefit JazzReach, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation, and teaching of jazz.

Steve Reich unveils Mallet Quartet in Budapest ... John Adams-curated LA Phil fest continues with Kronos, Brian Wilson ... Christina Courtin plays two shows in Brooklyn ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven with Iván Fischer, Cleveland Orchestra ... Low Anthem closes Josh Ritter mini-tour ... Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau National Christmas Tree Lighting set airs on PBS ... Punch Brothers play Prairie Home Companion ... Sara Watkins joins Tom Brosseau at Largo ... and more ...

The Low Anthem has won the Boston Music Awards' Album of the Year for its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. "After getting the nominations right this year," says the Boston Herald, "the Boston Music Awards followed through by nailing the winners." He describes the winning album as "a haunting, rootsy romp that rates as one of the best of the year in any state." The band closes its short tour with Josh Ritter tonight.

John Adams and Kronos Quartet return to Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles tonight for another concert in West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music festival curated by Adams. Tonight, they'll join the LA Phil for the world premiere of Thomas Newman's new piece, It Got Dark. An encore performance will be given at the Hall tomorrow night.

The Magnetic Fields will head off to Europe for a short string of shows in March following their previously announced US dates. The European tour begins in the UK and makes its way through Sweden, Norway, and Germany, before coming to a close in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, tickets for many of the US and Canada shows—including two shows at New York City's Town Hall—are still on sale.

Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau will perform together at the official National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC, this evening starting at 5 PM EST, joining fellow performers Sheryl Crow, Common, Jordan Sparks, and Ray LaMontagne, as well as President Obama and his family. The whole ceremony will be streamed live online and will be broadcast on PBS stations across the country tomorrow night.

Ry Cooder's monthlong tour with Nick Lowe through Japan, New Zealand, and Australia came to a close last night in Perth. The Age, in its review of the Melbourne show, describes Cooder as "the slide-guitar messiah." The Sydney Morning Herald reports from the Sydney set that his "guitar playing was of subtle beauty and effortlessness. Elegance and class all round on stage, actually." Cooder performs next as a guest of The Chieftans at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January.

West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's festival curated by John Adams, continues tonight with the composer and Kronos Quartet performing California-inspired music at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Adams will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in performances of Ingram Marshall's Fog Tropes and selections from Frank Zappa's Yellow Shark; Kronos performs Harry Partch's U.S. Highball.

When Joshua Redman joined Brad Mehldau for a duo set at London's Wigmore Hall last month, the Guardian said that with "the eloquent saxophonist" Redman, "Mehldau was often able to let his partner's built-in swing release his most whimsical side." The two perform together again for a very festive occasion: the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC, on December 3, with a PBS broadcast the following night.

Bill Frisell unveiled a new piece with Mike Gibbs and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London last Friday. The London Jazz Festival performance will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Afternoon on 3 today. "Each year, the London Jazz Festival marshals orchestral resources for landmark special events," writes the Financial Times in a five-star review. "This year’s centrepiece was a platform for Bill Frisell." The Guardian gives it four stars, saying "the graceful balance of order and open jamming in Gibbs's orchestral score let most of this unique artist's character glow through."

The latest episode of Studio 360 celebrates the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, including word from The Low Anthem's Ben Knox Miller on the origin of the title of the band's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. The Rough Trade staff puts the album at No. 2 of the year's best, calling it "essential." After the band's show in London last week, Uncut calls it "the year's breakout album," not least for its "supernaturally beautiful title track."

Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe bring "exceptional" show to Brisbane ... Dan Auerbach ends tour in Tennessee ... David Byrne discusses Jung at NY's Rubin Museum ... Carolina Chocolate Drops close tour in South Carolina ... Philip Glass talks Kepler at BAM ... Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller bring show to Boulder ... Kronos kicks of Adams-curated fest in LA ... Low Anthem, Natalie Merchant cross paths at Crossing Border in Holland ... Brad Mehldau flies solo in Serbia ... Joshua Redman plays Padova ... Sara Watkins joins Infamous Stringdusters in North Carolina ... and more ...