The 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, gets under way today as the first of two consecutive weekends of music unfolds. Included among this weekend's performers are Joshua Redman with his Quartet and New Orleans native sons Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. The Black Keys help close out the festival next weekend. Also in New Orleans this weekend is Fatoumata Diawara, who performs at the House of Blues. 

Bombino brought his European tour, featuring music of his new album, Nomad, to London's Village Underground last night, where the crowd cheered the Tuareg guitarist "as if he were a rock star," reports the Guardian in a four-star review. Bombino's "performance from the start was energetic and full-tilt ... He was clearly enjoying himself, and his enthusiasm was contagious." The Independent, previewing the concert, describes Bombino as "brilliant" and Nomad as "a bone-shaker of a new album." The tour continues in Europe then heads to the States in late May for headline dates, festival sets, and opening spots with Amadou & Mariam, Gogol Bordello and Robert Plant. 

Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced its 2013–14 concert season, which will feature performances from a number of Nonesuch artists: Kronos Quartet, which celebrates its 40th anniversary with two concerts at Zellerbach Hall; Joshua Redman, whose Quartet performs songs from his new album, Walking Shadows; and Richard Goode, performing music by Janáček, Schubert, and Debussy. Additionally, Cal Performances and the Ojai Music Festival present Ojai North!, of which pianist Jeremy Denk is this season's music director.

The line-up for the 2013 Festival d’été de Québec, which runs July 4 to 14, has been announced and includes performances from The Black Keys on the Plains of Abraham and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell at Parc de la Francophonie, as well as free sets from Dr. John, Amadou & Mariam, and Fatoumata Diawara at Place Metro in Place d’Youville.

Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson give the West Coast premiere of Anderson's Landfall at Stanford ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play festivals in Texas and North Carolina ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter tour Washington state ... Fatoumata Diawara traverses Texas to play iFest ... Dr. John is in Cleveland for Tri-C JazzFest ... Gidon Kremer joins Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra for three concerts ... Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau conclude their duo tour in Chicago and Austin ... Rokia Traoré concludes three-night Paris run ... and more ...

The line-up for the 2013 Luminato Festival in Toronto has been announced, and included among this year’s performers are Bombino, Amadou & Mariam, Laurie Anderson, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. All of these artists will give free concerts in David Pecaut Square at the Hub of the Festival, which runs from June 14 to 23. Among the Luminato Festival’s other highlights will be a multi-artist, two-night tribute to Joni Mitchell at Massey Hall.

Bombino continues a four-night stretch in Netherlands through the weekend on his just-launch European tour ... Carolina Chocolate Drops tour New England ... Jeremy Denk plays Beethoven, Bartók and Bach in Southern California ... Fatoumata Diawara heads from Minnesota to New Mexico ... Lianne La Havas concludes her US tour in DC, Atlanta and Nashville ... Iron and Wine plays a free set at Oklahoma University ... Natalie Merchant joins the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for three nights ... Steve Reich joins So Percussion at Cincinnati’s MusicNOW Festival ... Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau tour East Coast ... Rokia Traoré celebrates Beautiful Africa in Europe ... Dawn Upshaw performs in Austin ... and more ...

Nataly Dawn, who has been touring the United States in support of her critically acclaimed new album, How I Knew Her, will tour Europe for the first time this spring, including two UK headline shows in London and Nottingham and seven shows in the UK supporting Lord Huron. The European tour, which follows additional tour dates on the US West Coast later this month, also includes dates in France, Netherlands, and Germany. Tickets are on sale now.

Bombino, who made his Nonesuch Records debut with the release of his new album, Nomad, last week, has unveiled the official video for the album track “Azamane Tiliade.” The video, directed by Reid Long, premiered via Rolling Stone yesterday and is now on YouTube; watch it here. Rolling Stone says Bombino and producer Dan Auerbach "recorded raw, dialed-up jams rooted in the electric-blues tradition of Bombino’s nomadic, desert-dwelling Tuareg people." Bombino has kicked off a month-long European tour and launches a four-night run in the Netherlands tonight.

Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau kicked off a nine-city US duo tour with a sold-out performance at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom last night. "Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau come from different worlds but the same species, and whatever feels unlikely about their pairing is eclipsed by what feels perfectly natural," writes the New York Times' Nate Chinen. "At every turn, whatever the song, both musicians played with alert intelligence and deep sensitivity, only rarely entering competitive airspace," which then brought "an exhilarating rush." The tour continues with stops in Durham, College Park, Great Barrington, Boston, Knoxville, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Austin. 

Sara Watkins will join Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion on tour this summer for the Radio Romance Tour. In July and August, Watkins will join for the Northeast leg of their tour plus three shows in Michigan. Watkins joined Keillor and crew on their inaugural Summer Love tours in 2010 and 2011 and has been one of the most frequent guest artists on the Prairie Home Companion radio show. She recently performed "You and Me," off her album Sun Midnight Sun, for CMT Edge; watch it here.

Nonesuch Records labelmates mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau embark on a nine-city duo tour, beginning at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom tonight and includes stops in Durham, College Park, Great Barrington, Boston, Knoxville, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Austin. Their repertoire includes classical transcriptions, pop covers, and original songs.