The original cast recording of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love is “thought-provoking pop-laden fun,” says Broadway World. "With the range of musical styles encapsulated on the recording," says reviewer David Clark, "every track sounds fresh and original. Progressing through the dual-disc album, the listener is kept guessing as to what will come next and is constantly and pleasantly surprised ... Here Lies Love is one of the best albums I’ve had the chance to experience since I began reviewing music for BroadwayWorld.”

Robert Plant and his band the Sensational Space Shifters gave the Glastonbury Festival crowd "one of the most musically diverse sets of the day," says the BBC, including songs from his new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar. They "concoct a fascinating hybrid of dub, jazz, afrobeat and blues well suited to such an eclectic festival," says the Telegraph, "and an appreciative audience swayed in the setting sun to blissful world groove ... Plant's still got the vocal chops and stadium charisma." The Guardian calls him "hero." Metro says "Plant still very much has the voice and all of the cool." Watch them perform a song off the new album here.

Joshua Redman's new album, Trios Live, is a "sax fan's dream of a live set," says the Guardian in a four-star review. "Joshua Redman, one of the most technically accomplished saxists in jazz today, parades his powers on this live set ... [He] performs with a skill that sometimes justifies comparison with early Sonny Rollins—notably on the old Rollins vehicle 'Moritat (Mack the Knife),'" and "the crowd goes wild." Jazzwise writes: "Anyone who's seen Redman, especially live, will know about his forceful sonic presence and eloquence at reinvigorating a familiar jazz language while always remaining mindful of its more contemporary shifts." 

Composer/pianist Timo Andres and The Knights orchestra performed his re-composition of Mozart's "Coronation" Concerto in NYC's Central Park on Tuesday. The New York Times says Andres's left-hand completion of Mozart's work "felt necessary—not a lark but a surprisingly moving dazzler." Andres's cadenzas "were masterly—the one at the end of the third movement receded to daring delicacy and expansiveness—and the slow central movement ached with nostalgia for a softer past while embracing the angularity of the present."

Toumani & Sidiki, the new father-and-son recording from kora master Toumani Diabaté and his son Sidiki, has been named one of the Best Albums of 2014 So Far by Los Angeles Times music critic Randall Roberts. "It’s a beguiling sound, and when two geniuses bridge generations, you can hear echoes of a continuum stretching back centuries," says Roberts. He calls the album "a mesmerizing listen from first to last," on which the father-and-son duo "offers breathtaking synchronized sound." 

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love premiered at New York’s Public Theater in April of last year and returned this spring. The Washington Post's chief theater critic Peter Marks returned to see it, too, exclaiming: "It was a revisit that confirmed it as one of New York’s most exhilarating musicals–far sharper than any of the musicals that opened uptown in the Broadway season that just wrapped up." Ruthie Ann Miles, who plays Imelda Marcos, is "superb."

Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s Trios Live is out now. The album was recorded at New York City’s Jazz Standard and Washington, DC’s Blues Alley during stands with two different trios—Redman and drummer Gregory Hutchinson with bassist Matt Penman (Jazz Standard) and Redman and Hutchinson with bassist Reuben Rogers (Blues Alley). Trios Live features four original tunes by Redman and interpretations of three additional songs. "It’s a great set," raves the Financial Times, "full of muscular rhythms and the abandon of live performance, yet as tightly argued as a rigorous studio date."

John Adams's Saxophone Concerto, as heard on a new album with the title piece, City Noir, "is a gleaming vehicle for virtuoso saxophonist Timothy McAllister," says NPR's Thomas Huizenga. "He nails the fluent angularity and punchiness in the music with a lyrical touch somewhere comfortably between jazz and classical styles ... You can hear the influence of swing music, and the more frenetic pacing of great bebop sax men like Charlie Parker, over Adams' pulsating orchestra." McAllister gives the West Coast premiere of the piece at the Cabrillo Festival in August.

The new album of John Adams's City Noir and Saxophone Concerto is out now, performed by the St. Louis Symphony led by David Robertson, featuring saxophonist Timothy McAllister. "Dense, brash and exuberant," raves the New York Times, "these two stellar works by John Adams are love letters to the confidence of the 1950s and a time when some of the greatest feats of virtuosity were often performed in smoky jazz clubs." It's "an incisive performance," says the Times; "McAllister sizzles." The Times of London gives the album four stars, calling the concerto "fun from start to finish."

The cast recording of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love, featuring the original 2013 Public Theater cast of the musical starring Ruthie Ann Miles as Imelda Marcos, earns a nine out of ten from PopMatters. The 2010 song-cycle recording "was a magnificent achievement," exclaims PopMatters, "by turns catchy, clever, and insightful." And still, the newly released cast album "is even better." It "takes one to a wondrous world," says the site, citing Miles's "sumptuous singing," and concluding: "the music is exceedingly seductive."

Caetano Veloso performed at Barbican Hall earlier this week as part of Explorations: The Sound of Nonesuch Records, the Barbican's month-long celebration of the label's 50th anniversary. The concert, featuring songs from his new album, Abraçaço, earned five stars from the Times and Guardian, both of which call it a "masterclass," and The Arts Desk. The Times also calls it "a perfect evening," the Guardian "exquisite." The Arts Desk says: "Caetano Veloso gets more extraordinary." Veloso tours the US this fall.

Natalie Merchant's new, self-titled album was released earlier this week to great critical acclaim. The New York Times describes the album as "a set of dark, brave, thoughtful and serenely startling songs." NPR's All Things Considered says: "This record gives full rein to Natalie Merchant's voice, which is stronger than ever, especially in her magnificent lower register." A USA Today feature finds Merchant "driven by the same sense of empathy that has always motivated her." Refinery29 says the new album marks "the return of one of music’s most illustrious voices."