Rhiannon Giddens resumes Freedom Highway tour in Midwest … Timo Andres plays in NYC … Devendra Banhart concludes South American tour in Buenos Aires … Fleet Foxes play Oregon … k.d. lang takes Ingénue tour to Ottawa … Nico Muhly is at the Guggenheim in NYC … Randy Newman tours Northeast … Conor Oberst tours Midwest … Joshua Redman is at Monterey Jazz, SFJAZZ … Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau conclude US duo tour in California … Rokia Traoré performs in Belgium … and more …
Rhiannon Giddens begins the next leg of her US tour, featuring music from her new album, Freedom Highway, at Loeb Playhouse at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, tonight. She then heads to Ohio for a concert at The Kent Stage in Kent on Saturday, followed by a sold-out show at People’s Bank Theatre in Marietta on Sunday afternoon.
“Every now and then, a voice comes along that is so thoroughly in tune with the times that it can't—and shouldn't—be ignored,” writes The Bluegrass Situation in a recent interview with Giddens. “This year, that voice belongs to Rhiannon Giddens.” You can read the interview here.
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Timo Andres joins fellow pianists David Kaplan (with whom he recorded his Nonesuch debut album, Shy and Mighty in 2010), Andrew Hsu, and Mika Emily Sasaki for a performance of music originally composed for orchestra at the downtown New York City home of the Metropolis Ensemble (with whom Andres recorded his second Nonesuch album, Home Stretch, in 2013). On the program are Benjamin Britten's Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Thomas Ades' Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face, and Brahms' First Symphony.
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Dan Auerbach is in the Carolinas this weekend, joining John Prine as special guest at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center on Friday and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Belk Theater in Charlotte on Saturday.
Auerbach's new solo album, Waiting on a Song, is out now on his label Easy Eye Sound. Mojo gives the album four stars, writing that it “confirms [Auerbach] as a craftsman of rare skill and few equals … Waiting on a Song is a triumph.”
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Devendra Banhart concludes his tour of South America, featuring music from his latest album, Ape in Pink Marble, with a performance at Groove in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saturday.
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Fleet Foxes, who kicked off the final leg of their 2017 North American tour in the Pacific Northwest this week, have a sold-out show at Edgefield Amphitheatre in Troutdale, Oregon, on Saturday. The band’s new album, Crack-Up, released in June on Nonesuch, is “likely to be the most remarkable album you will hear this year,” exclaims the Times of London. “The return of one of the most original bands of this century."
“I guess I turn to music to be transported somewhere as a listener,” Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold tells the Santa Barbara Independent ahead of a performance there next week. “I feel like most music I listen to is like an escape. Or it colors the air in a way that makes the world feel better or feel more, like, magic…” To read what else he had to say, click here.
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k.d. lang continues the Canadian leg of her Ingénue Redux Tour with two performances at National Arts Centre’s Southam Hall in Ottawa on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s performance finds lang joined by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Shelley, as part of the venue’s Gala to benefit the National Youth and Education Trust.
The tour, which concludes with a show at FirstOntario Concert Hall in Hamilton on Tuesday, follows the release of the Ingénue: 25th Anniversary Edition double album on Nonesuch. "Ingénue still dazzles, 25 years later,” exclaims Uncut. “A modern classic … Perfectly pitched, in pretty much every way.”
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Composer Nico Muhly is at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on Sunday for a performance and conversation as part of the museum’s Works & Process series. He is joined by author/illustrator Maira Kalman and Guggenheim curator Nat Trotman for a discussion of his music for countertenor. Muhly wrote a piece inspired by Kalman’s book and blog Principles of Uncertainty, selections from which will be performed along with a preview of a new piece, and more.
Muhly collaborated with Faroese singer/songwriter Teitur for the album Confessions, released late last year on Nonesuch. Gramophone calls it "brilliantly witty, strangely compelling ... subtly affecting."
Also this season in the Works & Process series, John Adams will preview his new opera, Girls of the Golden West, joined by librettist/director Peter Sellars, on September 21 and 22, and Steve Reich gives a preview of his new piece Runner on October 17, ahead of its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall.
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Randy Newman began a fall tour of the United States featuring music from his new album, Dark Matter, this week. The tour continues with performances at Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey, tonight, and Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, on Saturday. The AP says Newman "is still at the top of his game."
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Conor Oberst, with the Felice Brothers as his backing band, continues his Salutations tour with concerts at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in Pittsburgh tonight. Oberst's performances at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati on Saturday and The Castle Theatre in Bloomington, Illinois, on Sunday have been canceled.
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Saxophonist Joshua Redman is at the 60th annual Monterey Jazz Festival on Saturday, joining fellow tenors Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano, and Branford Marsalis, as well as pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Lewis Nash in a tribute to Sonny Rollins. From there, Redman heads north to San Francisco for two performances with tabla player Zakir Hussain at SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium on Sunday afternoon and evening.
“Some day they’ll be able to break it all down and explain what it is, the magic of getting out of your own way and feeling like you have agency but you’re a vessel from something deeper,” Redman tells the San Francisco Chronicle in an interview ahead of this weekend’s shows. “That’s an amazing part of the human experience. I think the unpredictability is something that makes it all the more special.” You can read the interview here.
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Also in California this weekend are mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau, performing songs from their 2017 self-titled debut duo album. They play The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles tonight, followed by two sold-out shows at Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ Center on Saturday. The duo concludes the weekend with a set at the Monterey Jazz Festival on Sunday.
"The great artists transcend genre and era," says LA Weekly in recommending tonight's show, "and together Thile and Mehldau embody things about America that we can all hold up as lasting and good."
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Rokia Traoré performs at De Roma in Antwerp, Belgium, on Saturday. She released her latest album, Né So, on Nonesuch last year. "Traoré has made the album of her career,” exclaimed the Times. “This accessible yet sophisticated album offers its own defiance against hard times.”
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