Cécile McLorin Salvant takes part in the Qobuz One Cover One Word interview series to talk about her discovery of jazz, her inspirations, and more. She shares her thoughts on recordings by Melissa Aldana, Fiona Apple, Ambrose Akinmusire, Thelonious Monk, Kendrick Lamar, Max Roach, Soundgarden, Nina Simone, and Sullivan Fortner. "Things are getting more and more personal for me as the years go by," she says of her own new album, Ghost Song, and I feel less and less afraid of writing and singing the music that I'm hearing inside. So, I think this album is a testament to that." You can see what else she had to say here.

The Magnetic Fields have announced a tour of Europe and the UK for the spring and summer, starting at Asker Kulturus in Oslo on May 31, followed by shows in Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, France, and Germany. The dates follow the band's previously announced tour of the United States and Canada in April. That tour begins at the Tarrytown Music Hall in upstate New York on April 6, followed by stops in Northampton, Raleigh, Charlottesville, Toronto, Iowa City, Saint Paul, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. 

Nonesuch Records releases the forty-disc John Adams Collected Works, a box set of recordings spanning more than four decades of the composer’s career with the label, on July 1, 2022. It includes two extensive booklets with new essays and notes by Timo Andres, Julia Bullock, Robert Hurwitz, Nico Muhly, and Jake Wilder-Smith. Nonesuch made its first record with John Adams in 1985; he was signed exclusively to the label that year, and since then the company has released forty-two first recordings and thirty-one all-Adams albums. “John Adams coming to the label was one of the central events in our company’s history,” says Robert Hurwitz, Nonesuch’s longtime President and current Chairman Emeritus. “The recordings were done in real time, mostly within a few months of a piece’s first performance. Every recording was either conducted by John, or made under close supervision of the composer, who was in the control booth for every album—when he wasn’t on the podium.” Collected Works includes thirty-five discs of Nonesuch recordings and five from other labels.

David Byrne sat down for Wired magazine's Autocomplete Interview, answering the internet's most searched questions about himself—about American Utopia, Talking Heads, tutus, songs that make him cry, and more. You can see what he had to say here.

Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) releases their Nonesuch Records debut album, LIFE ON EARTH, today. “Alynda Segarra’s powerful … album exudes a glorious irreverence," says Pitchfork, naming it this week's Best New Music. "Their self-described 'nature punk' songs are both intimate and immense, and they’ve never sounded more honest or self-possessed … Segarra’s melodies, some so beautiful that they seem to have existed forever, make them stay.” Uncut exclaims: "A major step forward for one of today’s most vital artists. The first great album of 2022." NPR says: "[Segarra] has a voice rooted in history, making music to change the present … the voice of the future." Hurray for the Riff Raff shares the album in an NPR Listening Party today. They tour North America this spring and head to the UK and Europe this summer.

Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, marked the release of their Nonesuch debut album, LIFE ON EARTH, on Friday as the guest on NPR's World Cafe. They performed four songs from the album—"PIERCED ARROWS," "POINTED AT THE SUN," "LIFE ON EARTH," and "SAGA"—and spoke with host Stephen Kallao about the making of the album and more. "At its heart," says Kallao, "when so many things are terribly frustrating, Life on Earth is an affirmation of humanity and how we can bring joy to ourself and others in difficult times." You can hear the session here.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, will present a selection of free public programs in conjunction with Laurie Anderson: The Weather (on view through July 31), the largest-ever US exhibition of Anderson's artwork. From late February through July, the Hirshhorn will present performances by Anderson, artist talks, and film screenings. Programs will be held at the Hirshhorn, at partnering DC venues, and online. “I’m so happy to be working with the Hirshhorn and grateful to be able to expand the exhibition into music, performance, and events,” she said. “In many ways, my subject has always been America, and it’s been exciting to get a chance to present my stories in the most symbolic center of power: the nation’s capital­—especially in these watershed times."

Pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan’s StandArt—his first album of American standards—will be released on April 29. StandArt includes songs from the 1920s through the 1950s, by Richard Rodgers, Charlie Parker, Jerome Kern, and others; it also includes a piece Hamasyan improvised with his bandmates—bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown—and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. Other special guests include saxophonists Joshua Redman and Mark Turner. StandArt is available to pre-order with an instant download of Hamasyan’s take on Elmo Hope’s “De-Dah,” the video for which can be seen here. Hamasyan embarks on a US tour in June and has upcoming dates in France, Israel, Switzerland, and Spain.

WNYC's New Sounds dedicates its latest episode to "some of the exciting new music coming out of Chicago," including three albums released through partnership between the Chicago-born label International Anthem and Nonesuch Records: Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown and Forfolks and Ben LaMar Gay's Open Arms to Open Us. You can hear the episode here. Both artists will perform at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville in March. Parker then tours the West Coast with Steve Gunn and will perform on the East Coast with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo in May.

Kronos Quartet has announced the seventh-annual Kronos Festival, to take place at SFJAZZ Center on April 7–9, 2022. The three-day celebration features five world premieres; signature works from Kronos’ far-reaching repertoire; an anniversary celebration; and three compositions commissioned as part of Kronos' Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire project. Composer, arranger, and trombonist Jacob Garchik is this year’s Artist-in-Residence.

The Staves have released a stripped down, alternate version of "Devotion," a song from their 2021 album, Good Woman; it is the fifth in their Be Kind series of special singles. "We went into the studio with the wonderfully talented Marcus Hamblett (our bandmate and long-time collaborator) with the intention of revisiting some of the songs from Good Woman, to explore some of the more soft and tender parts that are there," the band says.

David Byrne is on a special bonus episode of WNYC's United States of Anxiety to talk with host Kai Wright about his show American Utopia on Broadway. "It's a live Broadway show in which he performs his music almost as a catalyst to a wider conversation about living in a plural society," Wright says: "you, me, us, and what's possible if we can make that work." You can hear their conversation here.