Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Mary Halvorson makes her Nonesuch debut with two albums, Amaryllis and Belladonna, due May 13. The two suites, which Halvorson describes as “modular and interlocking,” come in a two-LP vinyl set or as two separate CDs and digital albums, produced and mixed by John Dieterich. Amaryllis is a six-song suite performed by a newly formed sextet of master improvisers; the Mivos string quartet joins for three of the songs, making this the largest ensemble for which Halvorson has written to date. Belladonna is a set of five compositions written for Halvorson on guitar plus the Mivos Quartet, whose parts are through-composed and augmented by Halvorson’s guitar improvisations. You can watch a video for the Amaryllis track "Night Shift" here.

David Byrne is on the Talk Easy podcast hosted by Sam Fragoso. They discuss his show American Utopia, which marks its last few weeks on Broadway and which Fragoso calls “dazzling … remarkable,” the celebratory nature of performing the show for audiences as people have begun to congregate again, and much more. You can hear it here.

Nonesuch Records will release a three-LP/three-CD box set of albums from the great Argentine composer, bandleader, and bandoneón player Astor Piazzolla—originally released by American Clavé Records in the 1980s and reissued by Nonesuch more than two decades ago—on May 6, 2022. Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings marks the first time this landmark trio of albums—Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra: The Solitude of Passionate Provocation, and The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado)—is being issued as a set, now remastered, and is the first time the albums have been available on vinyl since their initial release on American Clavé. The set’s liner notes include original and new notes by the albums’ producer and American Clavé founder Kip Hanrahan and an essay from journalist Fernando González, who translated and annotated Piazzolla’s memoirs and wrote liner notes for four of his albums.

The Black Keys' eleventh studio album, Dropout Boogie, is due May 13 on Nonesuch Records. As they've done their entire career, The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney wrote all of the material for Dropout Boogie in the studio, and the album captures a number of first takes that hark back to the stripped-down blues rock of their early days making music together in Akron, Ohio, basements. After hashing out initial ideas at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville, the duo welcomed new collaborators Billy F Gibbons, Greg Cartwright, and Angelo Petraglia to the sessions, marking the first time they've invited multiple new contributors to work simultaneously on one of their own albums. You can watch the video for the first single, "Wild Child," here.

Cornetist, composer, and educator Ron Miles died at his home in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, March 8, due to complications from polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder, at the age 58. He can be heard on several Nonesuch recordings, performing with Joshua Redman on the 2018 Grammy-nominated album Still Dreaming and with Bill Frisell on History, Mystery (2008), Blues Dream (2001), and Quartet (1996).

Gabriel Kahane has released "To Be American," from his upcoming album, Magnificent Bird. Kahane both mines and interrogates nostalgia in the song, which he wrote during the roiling, national tumult of October 2020. "It's fitting,” he says, “that a song preoccupied with the past would feature musicians who are some of my oldest friends. This song, as much as any on the album, is a showcase of my musical community." The elegiac anthem features an all-star band of Andrew Bird, Caroline Shaw, Chris Thile, Punch Brothers bassist Paul Kowert, and percussionist Ted Poor. You can watch the video for the song, directed by Robert Edridge-Waks, here.

David Byrne was on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk with Fallon about his famed suit from Stop Making Sense, writing music from a rental car, performing American Utopia on Broadway, and his new book of drawings, A History of the World (in Dingbats). He was joined by his cast mates to perform "Like Humans Do." Byrne joined Tariq from The Roots to face off against fellow guest Renée Zellweger and Fallon in a game of The Jinx. You can watch all of the above here.

David Byrne was on CBS Saturday Morning to talk with Anthony Mason about bringing American Utopia to Broadway and took Mason on a walk through his new art exhibition at Pace Gallery in NYC. He was also joined by his Broadway cast mates to perform "Burning Down the House," "Everybody's Coming to My House," and "Marching Through the Wilderness" in a Saturday Sessions set from the St. James Theatre, where the show is running through April 3. You can watch the conversation and three performances here.

Singer/songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant's Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song, is out now. The New York Times calls it "her most revealing and rewarding album yet." Uncut says she is "one of the most daring and resourceful vocalists in jazz—or any other genre, for that matter." The Arts Desk exclaims: "The treasure trove of marvels that is Ghost Song exceeds all expectations." Nonesuch Store LP and CD orders include an exclusive signed artwork by Salvant while they last. Salvant has a solo art exhibition at Picture Room in Brooklyn opening tonight, heads out on tour in Europe next week, and will play two nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center in May.

Hurray for the Riff Raff performed "PIERCED ARROWS," from their recently released Nonesuch debut album, LIFE ON EARTH, for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Late Show Me Music series of online videos. You can watch it here.

Brad Mehldau has released a new track from his upcoming album, Jacob’s Ladder, “Tom Sawyer." The song, Mehldau’s interpretation of the Rush classic, features his Nonesuch Records label mate Chris Thile on lead vocals and mandolin as well as Joel Frahm on saxophones and Mark Guiliana on drums; Mehldau plays keyboards and provides additional vocals. You can watch the video here. This follows the recent release of the album's opening track, "maybe as his skies are wide," which builds off an interpolation of one portion of "Tom Sawyer." 

Chris Thile, who is currently touring the United States with Punch Brothers, has announced a tour of Europe and the UK this autumn. The month-long tour begins in Estonia on October 20, making stops in Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, and the UK, culminating at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on November 15.