Clarinetist/composer Don Byron celebrates his 50th birthday with a series of four different programs at New York's Jazz Standard, beginning tonight and running through Sunday. Opening the festivities this evening is Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz, in which Byron revisits his groundbreaking 1993 klezmer-rooted Nonesuch album of the same name. Next is music from Byron's classic 1996 release Bug Music, featuring works by Duke Ellington and others. On Saturday, the Don Byron Quartet takes the stage, and closing out the celebration on Sunday, Byron returns to his Nonesuch catalog and his Latin-focused 1995 recording, Music for Six Musicians.

Bill Frisell has been traveling across Europe with Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen playing film music to the films of Buster Keaton, Bill Morrison, and Jim Woodring. The trio will take the show to the Barbican in London this Saturday night as part of the London Jazz Festival. In a feature profile, The Times (UK) calls the mild-mannered guitarist "a one-off ... the Clark Kent of jazz guitar—beneath his mild exterior lurks a supernatural talent," and his latest release, History, Mystery, "delightful."

Punch Brothers kicked off a string of November tour dates this past weekend. These latest dates marked the debut of Punch Brothers' new bassist, Paul Kowert, who, fittingly, studied with Chris Thile's recent duo partner, Edgar Meyer. The Bluegrass Blog says Kowert is "more than up to the task. Not only has he memorized the demanding Punch Brothers repertoire, but he is a brilliant soloist in his own right." The band, the review concludes is "the most technically gifted string ensemble yet assembled, and the discipline they exhibit individually and as a unit is a wonder to behold."

Laurie Anderson's European tour of Homeland comes to a close this week in Italy this Wednesday, after two shows in Tel Aviv, Israel, last week with special guest Lou Reed. The Jerusalem Post calls Laurie's pieces "all-encompassing experiences" and Homeland in particular a "thought-provoking performance." The addition of Reed to the lineup "charmingly combined her artistic style with his rock," for "an exceptional show that ranged from the finest in performance art to a classic rock experience."

David Byrne brings his show—"as enigmatic and adventurous as his three decades-long career" (Boston Globe)—to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and DC ... Adams's Doctor Atomic explodes onto movie screens around the world ... Laurie Anderson's Homeland tours Italy ... Shawn Colvin tours the Northeast and talks to the Washington Post ... Toumani Diabaté travels the West Coast ... Bill Frisell Trio's film music plays Eastern Europe ... Glass-scored ballets leap from Toronto to Miami to Sweden ... Kronos does Denver with Alternative Radio ... k.d. lang plays the Mile High City too ... Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman trios meet up in Spain ... Punch Brothers play the Peace Center Bluegrass Festival ... Pacific Northwest Ballet performs to Reich ... Laura Veirs plays Portland's Siren Festival ... and more ...

Following its Met premiere earlier this month, John Adams's 2005 opera Doctor Atomic was described as the composer's "most complex and masterly music" by the New York Times and "hauntingly powerful, deeply humane and eloquent" by the Boston Globe. This Saturday's matinee will be broadcast live in movie theaters around the world through The Met: Live in HD, which reaches close to 800 screens. Met General Manager Peter Gelb tells the Boston Herald: "I was determined to bring [Adams] to the company. Taking advantage of that with new media just adds to the experience."

Following her performance in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall this past Sunday, Dawn Upshaw is preparing for two nights at Lincoln Center's Gerald Lynch Theater, in a production of Kurtág's Kafka Fragments. She first brought the piece to Zankel Hall in 2005, under the direction of Peter Sellars and with violinist Geoff Nuttall, who also return for the current iteration. The New York Times talks to the soprano about the piece and her other current projects; she says: "I feel I’m doing the world—or my audience—the most good by bringing things to them that I either feel have an important message or bring perspective or beauty to their lives, and do it as honestly as I can."

The current run of k.d. lang's Watershed tour brought her to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area last night for a performance at Bass Performance Hall that the Star-Telegram called a "superb 90-minute set ... A wondrous, multilayered instrument seemingly assembled from smoke, cinders and a husky yearning, the voice ranged over a multitude of moods." Next up is a show at the Paramount Theatre in Austin tonight.

Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté is currently on tour in the US, and performs in the Bay area on Wednesday, November 5. The San Francisco Bay-Guardian's music blog, Noise, recently posted about his music and his recent album, The Mandé Variations, describing Diabaté's "ability to incorporate disparate sounds from Western pop, Indian classical music, and blues while remaining grounded in his country's tradition."

Kronos continues its multi-year residency at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Center ... Cleveland Orchestra gives swing-state Ohio a short break from the campaign with Adams's Gnarly Buttons ... Laurie Anderson gives Netherlands premiere of "Amelia Earhart" ... David Byrne takes his "effortless artistic grace" (Montreal Gazette) to Boston and The Borgata ... Toumani Diabaté begins his two-week US tour in Boston ... Bill Frisell's Trio plays film music in Portugal ... k.d. lang beats Byrne to The Borgata ... Brad Mehldau Trio plays two nights in Austria ... Sam Phillips plays two sets at Yoshi's ... Joshua Redman Trio continues its tour of Europe ... Dawn Upshaw joins pianist Stephen Prutsman at Carnegie Hall ... Wilco's in Wisconsin, getting out the vote ... and more ...

Toumani Diabaté begins a two-week tour with music from his latest solo record, The Mandé Variations, this Saturday at the Somerville Theater outside Boston. On Sunday, he comes to New York's Skirball Center, where The New Yorker suggests the "deeply meditative compositions" of the new record "promise to be quite stirring" live. Leading to next week's concerts in California, the Mercury News calls him "an unsurpassed master of the kora" whose performance on Mandé Variations "is incantatory, as Diabaté creates a rolling, hypnotic vibe that gives the album the feel of an extended suite."

It is with great regret that Randy Newman has had to postpone his forthcoming European tour on doctor's orders, because of physical limitations and severe pain caused by stenosis in the lower back and neck. The 18-date tour had been due to start this Saturday, November 1, in Berlin. "I deeply regret not being able to come," says Randy. "I like it so much in Europe, and I've always been treated so well. I'll get there as soon as I can."