"She is, without a doubt, her generation’s most accomplished jazz vocalist, and easily could have continued along the trajectory of performing and recording standards, punctuated by her own and other compositions both within and outside the borders of the genre," Angela Y. Davis writes in this appreciation of Cécile McLorin Salvant. "But given the immensity—the breadth and depth—of her artistic vision, that would have been equivalent to aesthetic perjury. Mélusine, Salvant’s most recent album, is a bold declaration that she is willing to answer the call of her expansive imagination, especially when it urges her to transgress borders based on language, genre, cultural tradition, and historical time." You can read Davis's essay here.

Tigran Hamasyan’s StandArt, his first album of American standards, was released one year ago. To mark the anniversary, the pianist/composer has shared Night Odyssey, a short film by his sister Melanya Hamasyan that begins and ends with the album track “I Should Care,” written by Alex Stordahl, Paul Weston, and Sammy Cahn. He is joined on the track by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. You can watch it here.

Rhiannon Giddens is in the UK, performing in Edinburgh, Gateshead, and Perth. John Adams is performed in DC and Madrid. Emmylou Harris joins Willie Nelson's 90th birthday bash at the Hollywood Bowl. Natalie Merchant takes her Keep Your Courage tour south for a concert in St. Augustine and a sold-out show with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Cécile McLorin Salvant sings songs from Mélusine, Ghost Song, and more in Virginia. Sarah Kirkland Snider is in Maine for performances of her Mass for the Endangered. Richard Goode plays Beethoven in NYC. Mandy Patinkin is in Connecticut.

Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, and musician Molly Tuttle and her band, Golden Highway, will release their new album, City of Gold, July 21, on Nonesuch. You can watch the video for the album track “El Dorado” here. Produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and recorded in Nashville, City of Gold was inspired by Tuttle’s near constant touring with Golden Highway and their growth together as musicians and performers, cohering as a band. These 13 tracks—mostly written by Tuttle and Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show)—capture the electric energy of the band’s live shows by highlighting each member’s musical strengths. City of Gold also features special guest Dave Matthews on the song “Yosemite.” Tuttle and Golden Highway will tour through this summer.

Multi-instrumentalist Yussef Dayes will release his highly anticipated debut solo studio album, Black Classical Music, September 8.Dayes’ drum licks and Rocco Palladino’s bass are the anchors to this nineteen-track debut solo studio album, with Charlie Stacey (keys/synths), Venna (saxophone), Alexander Bourt (percussion), and a host of features including: Chronixx, Masego, Jamilah Barry, Tom Misch, Elijah Fox, Shabaka Hutchings, Miles James, Sheila Maurice Grey, Nathaniel Cross, Theon Cross, and the Chineke! Orchestra—the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians. You can watch the video for the title track, featuring Venna & Charlie Stacey, here.

Congratulations to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Makaya McCraven, and Jeff Parker, each of whom has won the Deutscher Jazzpreis in Germany. Salvant won for International Vocal Album for her Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song; McCraven for International Drums/Percussion; and Parker for International String Instrument. Winners were announced at an awards ceremony in Bremen today.

Brad Mehldau’s acclaimed 2002 Jon Brion–produced album Largo, which turned 20 last year, will receive its first-ever vinyl release, on Nonesuch Records on June 16. The 2LP black vinyl edition is available to pre-order now. Mehldau experiments with electronic instrumentation on this set of original and borrowed tunes, including Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” "Gorgeous and brilliant,” raved the Boston Globe. “Mehldau has crafted a new-jazz soundscape that bursts with pop smarts."

The premiere recording of Thomas Adès’ Dante—a ballet score in three acts based on Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia—recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in concert at Disney Hall, is out now on Nonesuch Records. Dante was first performed at the Royal Opera House as part of Wayne McGregor’s The Dante Project for the Royal Ballet, with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and with designs by visual artist Tacita Dean. “In any new shortlist of great ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, Prokofiev, Britten, and Bernstein, Dante must newly be included for its musical invention alone,” exclaims the Los Angeles Times. “There is not a second in its 88 minutes that doesn’t delight. All of it is unexpected and wanted.” The collectable limited vinyl two-LP edition includes artwork by Dean and photography from the Royal Ballet’s performance.

To commemorate Earth Day, Hurray for the Riff Raff has released a digital deluxe version of their acclaimed 2022 Nonesuch debut. Along with the album's original eleven songs, the deluxe edition has seven additional tracks, three of which are previously unreleased: an acoustic version of "POINTED AT THE SUN" and two originals from the Life on Earth sessions, "LET HER IN THE SKY" and "RESISTANCE ROCKERS," the Kelly Gallagher–directed video for which can be seen here.

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion perform Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica. Jeremy Denk plays Nijmegen Piano Biennale. Emmylou Harris is in Dallas. Kronos Quartet joins the ballet in San Francisco. Natalie Merchant’s Keep Your Courage tour continues in Pennsylvania. Joshua Redman is in Toronto. Cécile McLorin Salvant performs with American Pianists Awards finalists in Indianapolis. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway tour Texas.

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, is this Saturday, April 22, 2023, and among the special releases out that day are the previously unreleased full-length live recording of The Black Keys' very first show at Beachland Tavern in Cleveland in 2002, on tangerine-colored vinyl; the first-ever vinyl release of The Magnetic Fields’ 2004 Nonesuch debut album, i, on gold-colored vinyl; and an alternate version of Wilco's landmark album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, featuring unique performances of all eleven songs, originally released as a bonus CD with the September 2022 issue of Uncut.

Natalie Merchant has released the video for "Big Girls," a song from her new album, Keep Your Courage. The song is one of two duets on the album sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis of Resistance Revival Chorus, along with "Come on, Aphrodite." That video and the new video for "Big Girls," which you can watch here, were directed by Matthew Shattuck. Merchant's tour continues with shows in Pennsylvania and Virginia this week.