John Adams's 2008 String Quartet, only his second piece for the medium after 1994's John's Book of Alleged Dances, "is a stunner," says the San Jose Mercury News, following the West Coast premiere by the St. Lawrence String Quartet at Stanford last Sunday. "[T]he piece emerged as one of his most brilliant and inventive masterworks," asserts the Mercury News, and "boasts all the attributes audiences have come to associate with Adams' best music ... [T]his is Adams at his most gripping."

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali gets "an enthusiastic double-'Buy It' rating" from the hosts of Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions, Jim DeRogatis (Chicago Sun-Times) and Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune). "During a rather dark, dismal, and dire week, this album was a constant source of sunshine," says DeRogatis. "This is joyous, celebratory music, absolutely, positively uplifting in its mix of Africa and the West. I love these guys to pieces." Kot concurs: "This is a great record ... I don't think I've heard a better album, beginning to end, than Welcome to Mali, in 2009." On NPR's All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen says, "They have a deep history of making music together, but nothing quite like their new record  ... Welcome to Mali will surely be one of the best world music records of 2009."

Sara Watkins's self-titled Nonesuch debut is out this week, and, says the BBC, this founding member of Nickel Creek "steps out with a confident stride with her debut solo release." The review calls it "an assured debut ... Watkins' time in the spotlight is a triumph with her agile playing and the kind of voice that gives your goosebumps the shivers." Scotland on Sunday says "it's her affectingly authentic voice that makes her such a superb example of the new Americana." The Washington Post's Express Night Out says Sara's "performances are now in a league with the stylistically similar Allison Krauss." The Kansas City Star says it's an album "for anyone who likes the sound of a good singer and a good band hammering out good music."

Audra McDonald will be among Broadway's finest at New York's Roseland Ballroom tonight for the Roundabout Theatre Company's Spring Gala, Take Me Back to Manhattan, a one-night-only celebration of the New York's big-band era. The performance, which benefits the Roundabout's Musical Theatre Fund, features music by Rodgers, Porter, Arlen, Berlin, Ellington, and Gershwin. Tonight's event will be hosted by Nathan Lane and is also scheduled to include performances by Michael Cerveris, Kelli O'Hara, Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Mario Cantone, Jane Krakowski, Cynthia Nixon, Denis O'Hare, Martha Plimpton.

The Low Anthem, the newest member of the Nonesuch artist roster, opens for Ray LaMontagne, Josh Ritter ... St. Lawrence String Quartet gives West Coast premiere of Adams String Quartet ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed play Yongey Peace Center benefit concert ... Dan Auerbach tours Australia ... David Byrne brings Byrne/Eno songs across England ... Christina Courtin takes over at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall ... Toumani Diabaté, Béla Fleck's Africa Project tour the South ... Bill Frisell concludes Disfarmer Project concerts in California ...  Philip Glass leads workshops at Pennsylvania academy, toasts Allen Ginsburg with Patti Smith in NYC ... Brad Mehldau Trio closes out week in France ... Youssou N'Dour doc screens at Wisconsin Film Fest ... Punch Brothers tour Midwest ... Joshua Redman Trio plays five nights at Yoshi's ... Alvin Ailey and Ballet Tech dance to Reich ... and more ...

The Amadou & Mariam song "Sabali" has grabbed a lot of attention as the opening track to their recent Nonesuch release, Welcome to Mali. Produced by Blur/Gorrillaz front man Damon Albarn, the song is listed among "the most intriguing tracks" this week, according to USA Today. RCRD LBL has chosen a Paul Epworth remix of this "electro-pop miracle" as its MP3 of the Day. Amadou & Mariam are also featured in yesterday's episode of WNYC's Soundcheck, in which New York Times writer Will Hermes follows up on his recent Times article on the changing sounds and perceptions of African music in a more diverse world.

Bay Area native Joshua Redman is back on his home turf this week to play a five-night residency—nine shows—at Yoshi's in Oakland, beginning tonight, with bassist Matt Penman, of the SFJAZZ Collective, and drummer Greg Hutchinson, a featured player on Redman's latest Nonesuch release, the double-trio album Compass. Branford Marsalis tells the San Jose Mercury News of the special affinity between Redman and his drummer, calling Hutchinson "the perfect foil for Josh."

To mark the start of National Poetry Month, Steve Reich will join a diverse array of noteworthy public figures, including musicians, actors, and writers, among others, at Lincoln Center's newly remodeled Avery Fisher Hall tonight to read their favorite poems by some of America's best-loved poets. Among those scheduled to read along with Reich are Joan Baez, Mia Farrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Chip Kidd, Wynton Marsalis, and Zadie Smith. Proceeds from the event, titled Poetry & The Creative Mind, benefit the Academy of American Poets and will help provide free classroom materials to more than 200,000 schools across the US this month.

Nonesuch Records is pleased to announce the signing of Rhode Island–based trio The Low Anthem. Later this spring, the label will release an updated version of the band’s album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, which had a limited but critically praised independent release late last year. Rolling Stone says the music on Charlie Darwin feels “homemade” and “solemnly beautiful,” and NPR Music called the song “To Ohio” a “tender stunner” in choosing it as a Song of the Day, saying, “At times languid and haunting, but with detours into Tom Waits-esque stomping and hollering, The Low Anthem’s music seems equally informed by Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Band and a late-night ride home in Joni Mitchell’s car.”

With their new album, Welcome to Mali, Amadou & Mariam have "made another, more dazzling ascent to an even loftier peak," says the Huffington Post, with "music from a very big world, made for everyone in the world." Reviewer Jesse Kornbluth insists, "This is the one because it's the right idea at the right time: a bundle of joy for a hurting planet ... This is harmonious, joyous music, totally accessible pop that just happens to be symphonic in its power. Its real genius is its accessibility—it sounds so simple, so organic, that it's like a song you've always hummed (and danced to) in your private happy moments." And with the new album, "Amadou and Mariam qualify as global superstars."

Jeff Tweedy performed two solo sets this past weekend, at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts, Friday night, and at Beacon High School in upstate New York, in a fundraiser for the Clearwater organization co-founded by Pete Seeger, who also performed. Rolling Stone says "Tweedy, like Seeger, engaged the crowd throughout his set ... He also sang with crisp vocals and rich vocal inflection on 'Passenger Side' and played haunting harmonica lines on 'Via Chicago.'” The Republican says Tweedy was equally humble and successful with the sold-out crowd at the Calvin: "Tweedy was magnificent over the course of his 25-song set, recounting the Wilco catalog in acoustic form."

Laurie Anderson presented the award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition at the Cinema Eye Honors this past Sunday night. Last fall, while on tour with her new performance piece, Homeland, Laurie participated in the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium at the University of California, Berkeley. As part of the event, Laurie joined the series curator, Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, for an hourlong discussion, the audio portion of which is now available online at the Berkeley Art Museum's site. The Museum says Homeland "includes songs and stories that create a poetic and political portrait of contemporary American culture."