The Brad Mehldau Trio has landed in California, kicking off a string of Bay Area shows in Santa Cruz last night, followed by a set in Napa tonight and three shows in San Francisco this weekend for SFJAZZ. The San Jose Mercury News calls last night's show "transfixing ... total exquisiteness." All About Jazz says the Trio's new album, Ode, is "rich, lyrical and full of energy ... a non-stop stream of invention." The Montreal Gazette says: "This may well be [Mehldau's] most interesting, absorbing album to date." The Philadelphia Inquirer calls it "transformative." Blurt says it's "some of the trio's most fiery interplay to date. A most welcome return."

Timothy Andres's I Found It by the Sea was featured in the closing-night concert of the Look and Listen Festival in NYC this week, performed with ACME. The piece "draws on a huge range of styles," says the New York Times. "Mr. Andres is a fine pianist, and he wrote himself a dazzling solo line. His quartet writing is equally rich." Andres performs a solo recital at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge later this month and makes his London debut at Wigmore Hall June 8. Earlier this year, he spoke with the new-music blog I Care If You Listen about his debut album, Shy and Mighty, and performed his piece At the River. Watch both here.

Pianist Jeremy Denk's label debut album, Ligeti/Beethoven, pairing Ligeti’s Piano Études, Books One and Two, with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, is out today. "The result is dazzling," raves the Observer. "The Ligeti is crisp, nuanced and technically flawless, the Beethoven beautifully shaped and flexible." The Independent gives the album four stars. The Arts Fuse calls it "revelatory." Denk celebrates the record's release with a performance of music from the album at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City next week. 

Jessica Lea Mayfield has extended her tour into the summer with a number of headline shows and a ten-day tour supporting Langhorne Slim. Following previously announced spring sets at the Nelsonville Music Festival and Appalachian Uprising, the summer tour begins with headlining shows in St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, and Salt Lake City. The tour with Langhorne Slim kicks off in San Francisco and LA and includes additional stops in California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

The Black Keys, who are in the midst of their North American arena tour with special guests Arctic Monkeys, have announced several new arena shows out West for this October. The new leg of the tour includes stops throughout California, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the famed Santa Barbara Bowl, and in Arizona and New Mexico. Tegan and Sara open. Fan ticket pre-sales are on now. The Calgary Herald puts Friday's show in as an "early entry into gig of the year." The Edmonton Journal says Saturday's was a "spellbinding show of fuzzy guitar riffs and soulful grooves."

Donnacha Dennehy's Grá Agus Bás will be featured in the Opening Night concert of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF), the UK's largest contemporary music festival, in November. The all-Dennehy program will be performed by Crash Ensemble, with Alan Pierson conducting and featuring vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, all of whom performed Grá Agus Bás on Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album of of the same name. Crash, an ensemble in residence at HCMF, will also bring Grá Agus Bás to the US next year for performances with Dawn Upshaw at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.

Brad Mehldau Trio performs at Denver's Newman Center for the Performing Arts with an opening performance from Timothy Andres ... The Black Keys continue their North American arena tour in Calgary and Edmonton ... Laurie Anderson's first-ever NYC painting exhibition opens ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Richmond ... Shawn Colvin closes out duo tour with Mary Chapin Carpenter in Washington ... Einstein on the Beach concludes UK run at the Barbican ... Emmylou Harris performs at the Ryman ... Kronos Quartet showcases Women’s Voices in San Francisco ... k.d. lang takes tour to Milwaukee and Chicago ... and more ...

Kronos Quartet has announced its late-spring and summer tour schedule, adding a number of dates throughout Europe. The Quartet kicks things off this weekend with two concerts at home in San Francisco, then heads to Europe for the first of two trips, featuring performances of Dracula with Philip Glass. In July, Kronos returns to the UK for several events in the Cultural Olympiad and the group's debut at BBC Proms.

NPR has premiered the new video for Dr. John's "Revolution" from the New Orleans legend's universally-lauded collaboration with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, Locked Down. Directed by Reid Long, the video offers a behind-the-scenes look at Dr. John's recent three weekend residency at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Watch the video here. Dr. John will take songs from Locked Down across the US and Europe, appearing with his band The Lower 911 featuring Jon Cleary as well as Iron & Wine, Gov't Mule, and more.

Amadou & Mariam will tour North America this summer for the first time since 2009, stopping at festivals including Lollapalooza, Central Park SummerStage, Outside Lands, and Osheaga, in addition to headlining theaters and clubs. On the tour, Amadou & Mariam will perform songs from Folila, the duo’s critically acclaimed new album.

Punch Brothers perform at the third-annual L.A. Bluegrass Situation curated by Ed Helms at Largo ... Timothy Andres joins NOW Ensemble at BAM ... The Black Keys play two shows in California ... Billy Bragg celebrates Woody Guthrie in Suffolk ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play Madison and Chicago ... Shawn Colvin joins Mary Chapin Carpenter in the Southwest ...  New Orleans favorite sons Dr. John and Allen Toussaint play Jazz Fest ... Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach receives UK premiere at the Barbican ... Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica are in Austria ... and more ...

The Black Keys take their North American arena tour to the West Coast, starting with two shows in California this weekend, in Oakland and Sacramento, followed by shows in Portland and Seattle, following recent successes in the Rockies and in Tulsa. The band "surpassed the lofty heights they had achieved on their most recent album, El Camino, by unleashing a beat-heavy, surprisingly groovy set that resonated in the concrete under your feet," says the Salt Lake Tribune. Their Denver show proved "a voluminous triumph," Reverb raves. "A Black Keys concert radiates with what every rock show should," says Tulsa World: "very nearly blasphemous, raw, unbridled energy." The Black Keys will appear on an upcoming episode of Comedy Central's Workaholics.