Dr. John launches his three-week residency at BAM with a Louis Armstrong tribute, then heads home to New Orleans for a free show in the NCAA Big Dance Concert Series Sunday; The Black Keys play Saturday ... Alarm Will Sound performs John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony in Michigan ... Björk headlines Lollapalooza Chile ... Carolina Chocolate Drops launch West Coast tour in Portland and Seattle ... Shawn Colvin plays outside DC ... Jeremy Denk joins San Francisco Symphony for American Mavericks at Carnegie Hall ... Dawn Upshaw gives a recital in San Francisco ... and more ...

Dr. John, who launched his three-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) last night, is the subject of a feature article in the New York Times that looks at his career and the unexpected turn it takes on his new album, Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach. They are featured in the Wall Street Journal, which says the "incendiary new album ... both harks back to [Dr. John]'s past and breaks new musical ground." Locked Down earns four stars from the Independent and the Times of London, which says Auerbach "has brought out the best in a true American original." The Guardian gives a perfect five stars to this "inspired" album: "[N]o one makes music like this: the Night Tripper rampages inimitably through swamp blues, voodoo funk and Afrobeat, with his trademark piano ... Terrific stuff."

Timothy Andres will make his London debut at Wigmore Hall on Friday, June 8, with a concert that marks the opening of the venue’s latest summer Late Night Series. The solo recital will focus on Andres’s own music and that of his contemporaries, as well as some of his major influences, like Brahms and Schumann. Before then, Andres has a number of US performances ahead, including a concert with the Brad Mehldau Trio in Denver.

With March Madness heading into the final stretch, Dr. John will play a free set in New Orleans' Woldenberg Park this Sunday as part of the NCAA Big Dance Concert Series. Dan Auerbach, the producer of his new album, Locked Down, plays on Saturday with The Black Keys. Both Dr. John and Auerbach will premiere music from the album at BAM the following weekend as part of Dr. John's three-week BAM residency, which begins tomorrow. Dr. John will be featured on BBC Radio 4's Front Row tonight.

Chris Thile joined the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the New York premiere of his Mandolin Concerto at Carnegie Hall on Saturday. The New York Times wonders if the mandolin is "about to have its moment as a classical solo instrument" and calls Thile "the instrument’s brightest star at the moment." Thile "knows how to surprise," says the Times' Allan Kozinn. "As fresh as the music sounded, it also had an appealing naturalness." The mandolin's solo line "is built on Mr. Thile’s more subtle brand of virtuosity—a blend of fluid melody, dazzling speed and a command of timbre ..."

Timothy Andres's music was featured on a number of concert programs in Los Angeles this weekend, including a piece from his debut album, Shy and Mighty, at Beyond Baroque, and Andres himself joining the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on piano for the world premiere of his Old Keys and the West Coast premiere of his re-composition of Mozart's "Coronation" Concerto. "What is most original about Andres’ music so far is its extraordinary pianistic character," says the Los Angeles Times review. "He is a superb pianist with a highly evolved rhythmic sense and a quirky sense of humor."

Chris Thile joins Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to perform his Mandolin Concerto at Carnegie Hall, broadcast on WQXR ... John Adams's Absolute Jest is in Ann Arbor ... Laurie Anderson webcasts from London ... Timothy Andres join LACO to premiere his Old Keys ... Björk is in Costa Rica ... The Black Keys head South ... Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach is in Italy ... Kronos Quartet plays Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 in Seattle ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays Memphis's Fareveller Festival ... Brad Mehldau Trio is in Amsterdam and Italy ... Randy Newman concludes European tour ... Dawn Upshaw is in Winnipeg ... Sara Watkins plays Alabama's Seagrass Music Festival ... and more ...

The Black Keys return to NYC for the second of two shows at Madison Square Garden tonight, following their first-ever headlining show at the venue earlier this month, which the AP says "electrified" the place. The band had a homecoming show at The Q in Cleveland Tuesday. "I’ve caught the Black Keys in a variety of settings," says the Cleveland Plain Dealer's John Soeder. "I’ve never known them to put on a bad show. And I’ve never witnessed them put on a better one than they did on this high-stakes occasion." The Chicago Tribune reports from Monday's show at the United Center that the band's sound remains full of "brawny riffs and rolling, tumbling drums that swing hard."

The new album featuring works by Krzysztof Penderecki and those they inspired by Jonny Greenwood itself stemmed from a concert in Poland last fall that paired the composers' works. Tonight, the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, which performed in the original concert and on the album, will perform the album's music at London's Barbican Hall. "Penderecki's Threnody still has the power to shock," says The Observer, "while Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver is already a modern classic." Consequence of Sound gives the new album four stars, calling it "one of the most ambitious albums of the year so far"; Greenwood's pieces "fit exquisitely next to the old master’s."

The Low Anthem will support Feist on her US tour this spring, the Canadian singer-songwriter announced today. The band will join Feist for four shows in the Midwest in June, making stops in Minneapolis, Madison, Ann Arbor, and Columbus. Ticket on-sale dates and details are still to come. Today's news follows an unforgettable week of collaborations for The Low Anthem with The Chieftains and a SXSW set with Bruce Springsteen.

The Black Keys take their North American arena tour to Chicago for a performance at the United Center tonight. At Friday's show at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, "11,000 attendees rallied around Auerbach's flawless and precise solos and Carney's caveman beats," says the Indianapolis Star. Auerbach tells the Chicago Tribune: "There’s something about those old arenas, where it feels larger than life. It’s like walking into a (big-league) baseball or basketball game, it’s on a different level, and I love that.” At the same time, he tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "We don't change anything, whether we're playing on a small stage or a big stage."

John Adams's Absolute Jest premiere performances continue with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the San Francisco Symphony in San Francisco ... Adams's Nixon in China concludes Lyric Opera run in Kansas City ... The Black Keys return to the Midwest ... Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach tour premieres in Montpellier, France ... Richard Goode plays Beethoven in Baltimore ... Kronos Quartet join Eiko & Koma in San Francisco ... The Low Anthem plays Carnegie Hall with The Chieftains ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours France ... Randy Newman continues European tour ... Punch Brothers close out SXSW run ... Chris Thile performs with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Brooklyn ... and more ...