Pat Metheny's US Orchestrion tour comes to a close this week with concerts along the Northeast. The Philadelphia Daily News says "the now meditative, now bluesy, now bopping or dramatically soaring music sounds very fine and 'in the pocket.'" Philadelphia Weekly calls it "dizzyingly advanced, but warm and full of heart." The Boston Phoenix says the album "reveals new depths at every turn"; the Boston Globe calls it "a soaring five-movement suite featuring some of the most intricate music he's ever created."

The Kennedy Center celebrates John Adams ... Laurie Anderson, John Zorn improvise in Lublin ... The Black Keys play free show in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Bill Frisell concludes Village Vanguard residency ... Kronos Quartet's in Copenhagen ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman close out duo tour ... Natalie Merchant tours Germany ... Pat Metheny's Orchestrion US tour hits final week ... Randy Newman, in Europe, featured on BBC Scotland ... Allen Toussaint performs at New Orleans Gulf Aid benefit ... Dawn Upshaw makes Edmonton Symphony debut ... and more ...

Punch Brothers had already been planning a full spring and summer tour across the US, in support of their forthcoming album, Antifogmatic, including a supporting slot with Josh Ritter in Boston next week and sets at the Bonnaroo, Telluride Bluegrass, Caramoor, and Newport Folk festivals. Now comes word that the band will open for comedian, actor, author, and Grammy-winning banjo player Steve Martin for several dates in June, July, and August.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have been nominated for the Americana Music Award for Duo or Group of the Year, the Americana Music Association announced today. The award show will be held in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium September 9. The band's Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, is due out on vinyl June 29 and is now up for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman's duo tour of Europe continues with music from their respective solo work and from Mehldau's recent release, Highway Rider, on which Redman performs. All About Jazz calls the album a "showcase of Mehldau's growth as both a composer and musician ... one of those rare and potent reminders that jazz not only thrives but continues to evolve in the hands of truly creative artists."

New Orleans native Allen Toussaint will perform at Gulf Aid, a benefit concert to raise funds for wetland recovery efforts and to support fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Also scheduled to perform at this Sunday's event are Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Mos Def, Dr. John, and many others. It will be broadcast on New Orleans radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM, online at wwoz.org.

The Black Keys' new album, Brothers, is due out May 18; to make the waiting easier, NPR.org is streaming the entire album as a First Listen. NPR's Bob Boilen says it's "packed with great songs and devoid of throwaways." The band will launch an exclusive pop-up store at NYC’s Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, May 18–20, highlighted by an intimate performance by The Black Keys on May 19; all ticket proceeds will go to Housing Works' efforts supporting New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS.

John Adams begins two weeks' of events on the East Coast with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall tonight, leading Ensemble ACJW in his Son of Chamber Symphony and Louis Andriessen's De Staat. The Kennedy Center launches John Adams: Perspectives, a two-week celebration of his music, featuring concerts with the NSO, discussions, a film screening, and book signings of his memoir, Hallelujah Junction, from which Adams will read at the Library of Congress.

Tune in to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight on CBS to see Wilco perform "Deeper Down" off Wilco (the album). The band has just announced a diverse array of musical guests for the line up of its first Solid Sound Festival, a three-day event to be held at MASS MoCA, August 13–15, in North Adams, Massachusetts. In addition to performances by the band and its members, the festival will feature Avi Buffalo, Vetiver, Sir Richard Bishop, Mountain Man, Brenda, The Books, Deep Blue Organ Trio, and legendary puppet theater company Bread and Puppet.

Pat Metheny returned to his home state of Missouri for two stops on the Orchestrion tour this weekend. "Metheny's Orchestrion is nothing short of spectacular," raves the Kansas City Star,  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, "The music spoke for itself, and eloquently." The tour continues tonight in Chicago. "Simply put," explains Time Out Chicago of Orchestrion, "the famed jazz guitarist has raised the bar for inventiveness, which says a lot for a career stretching over three decades."

Kronos Quartet, Alim Qasimov Ensemble perform from Floodplain in Paris ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to Berkeley ... Carolina Chocolate Drops stop at Oberlin's Spring Folkfest ...   Shawn Colvin plays the Birchmere ... Bill Frisell continues Village Vanguard residency ... Richard Goode begins Europe tour, as do Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau; Randy Newman continues his, while Rokia Traoré closes hers ... Pat Metheny hits his hometown ... and more ...

Laurie Anderson brings her latest piece, Delusion, to Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium tonight and Saturday. It follows a performance at Stanford to which the San Francisco Chronicle gives its highest rating, describing Delusion as "one story, quip or rumination after another, to comic, provocative and deeply touching effect ... As much as Anderson's beguiling presence and creative mastery, it's the tension between its playful and somber sides that gives Delusion its poignant weight."