Allen Toussaint's final recording, American Tunes, released to critical acclaim earlier this month, continues to earn rave reviews. Paste calls it "a beautiful colleciton of tracks that showcase his love of music no matter the genre." NPR's Fresh Air says it's "a fond last look at a composer and pianist who helped refine classic New Orleans pop and rhythm & blues and then brought them into the modern world. We miss him already." You can hear the complete review here.

Allen Toussaint's final recording, American Tunes, was released last week to critical acclaim, with three new and noteworthy reviews just in. American Tunes adds "an elegant new perspective on Toussaint's legacy," says NPR's All Things Considered. "He sings the same way he plays piano: gracefully, using understatement to devastating effect, says reviewer Tom Moon. "That kind of poise is easy to overlook, but it's crucial to just about everything on this delightful survey of American tunes. And it's one of the qualities that made Allen Toussaint an American treasure." Listen to the review here. The album is "an elegant and fitting adieu from the New Orleans master," says the AP. "Toussaint makes a fine final impression on American Tunes, a repertoire as rich as his own contributions to music over a nearly 60-year career."Stereophile names American Tunes its Recording of the Month, calling it "a fantastic and esoteric tour through the Great American Songbook, as selected by the old master himself."

The new album Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny has been reviewed on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. "The album lets you hear why the headliners get along," explains Fresh Air reviewer Kevin Whitehead: "the guitarist's approach to sound and melody and streaking long tones spoke to the trumpeter from the first." You can hear the complete review here. The Guardian gives the album four stars. "Metheny enters completely into the exploratory spirit," says Guardian's John Fordham, "and gives Vu's intriguing music a fresh dimension and creative support."

Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil kicked off a US tour featuring music from their new album, Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música: Multishow Live, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday. "What a pleasure it is to watch two masters at work," exclaims the Los Angeles Times music critic Mikael Wood of the "deeply satisfying concert." The two artists used "gorgeous melodies and propulsive rhythms to put across profound ideas," performing songs from their "superb" new album. As the Times headline reads, they "basically played their album in concert (and it was awesome)." The tour continues in Oakland, Miami, and Brooklyn.

Rhiannon Giddens brings a successful tour of Australia to a close at Byron Bay Bluesfest on Friday. While on tour, Giddens visited Warner Music Australia to perform "Up Above My Head," off her album Tomorrow Is My Turn. You can watch it here. She also stopped by ABC Radio National's The Music Show to discuss the album and perform "Water Boy." The Sydney Morning Herald gives four stars each to her Sydney and Melbourne concerts, describing the show as "brilliant American music without borders." Giddens kicks off the next leg of her US tour in early April.

As 2015 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2016, it's time to take a look back and remember all of the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists over the past year. Many Nonesuch artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists. Here, in words and music and in chronological order, is a look back at the year in Nonesuch music.

Brad Mehldau received the Wigmore Medal on Friday, becoming the first jazz musician to do so. Wigmore Hall Director John Gilhooly, presenting the medal at Mehldau's concert at the London hall, said: "Brad Mehldau has forged a unique path which embodies the essence of jazz exploration." His Wigmore concert program last week earned five stars from the Financial Times ("remarkable"), and four stars in the Guardian ("a powerful and thought-provoking gig") and The Arts Desk ("a beguilingly beautiful set").

NPR Music has announced its Favorite Songs of 2015, including tracks from eight Nonesuch Records releases from The Arcs, Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Kronos Quartet, Lianne La Havas, Punch Brothers, St Germain, and The Staves, as well as Mbonwana Star's World Circuit release. These are across a broad range of genre lists, including rock, folk/Americana, country, electronic, world, and classical. You can hear them here.

Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, and Rodney Crowell have made the Los Angeles Times music critic Randy Lewis's list of the Ten Best Albums of 2015. Giddens's Tomorrow Is My Turn is "a tour de force," he writes. "She can sing anything from Southern blues to Celtic folk and French cabaret with equal aplomb, and is shaping up as a first-rate songwriter as well." Harris and Crowell's The Traveling Kind is "a gorgeous reflection on life, hard-won wisdom and celebration from two longtime friends and musical collaborators," says Lewis.

Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog has been named one of the Best Movies of 2015 by the New York Times' A.O. Scott, landing at No. 4 on his list. "A meditation on love, loss and the meaning of life," Scott writes. "[A]nyone who ever had a heart is likely to succumb to Ms. Anderson’s ethereal wisdom and her fierce formal wit." Anderson will take part in Q&As at screenings of Heart of a Dog at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe this weekend.

Rhiannon Giddens's solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, has made NPR Music's list of its 50 Favorite Albums of 2015. "The joy inherent in the [album] isn't just her impeccable taste in cover material," writes NPR's Katie Presley. "It's also the palpable delight Giddens takes in covering it ... Tomorrow Is My Turn runs on an engine of irrepressible enthusiasm and a degree of sheer talent that, when encountered at full strength, is, fittingly, downright giddy-making." It's also on the Sunday Times of London's list of the 100 Best Records of the Year. "Singer of the year, the leader of the Carolina Chocolate Drops turns in a tour de force on her solo debut," writes the Times' Clive Davis. 

Congolese seven-piece band Mbongwana Star's debut full-length album, From Kinshasa, a World Circuit release, has landed on year's best lists from the New York Times, NPR Music, SPIN, Mojo, Uncut, and Q. The album's "ambition extends to the astral plane, absorbing post-punk, funk and techno along the way," says NPR. "The journey feels nothing short of a new world order. Don't hesitate to hitch your wagon to Mbongwana Star." SPIN says: "Let's celebrate how this indescribable seven-piece resists pigeonholing from even the most burnt Burning Man guest as anything but the future."