Darcy James Argue's Secret Society perform Dynamic Maximum Tension at The Jazz Gallery in NYC. Rhiannon Giddens brings her new album, You’re the One, to the Ryman in Nashville and Athenaeum in Chicago. The Black Keys headline Bourbon & Beyond in Louisville. Jeremy Denk joins Danish String Quartet at Wigmore Hall in London. Brad Mehldau performs new solo piano piece at Dublin's National Concert Hall. Chris Thile performs new song cycle with Louisville Orchestra. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway play Pickin’ in the Pines in Flagstaff. Vagabon is in Brussels and Berlin with Arlo Parks.
Darcy James Argue and his Secret Society ensemble—who began a four-night residency at The Jazz Gallery in New York City earlier this week in celebration of their Nonesuch Records debut, Dynamic Maximum Tension, released last week—continue the run with two sets a night tonight and tomorrow. The album, which pays homage to some of Argue’s key influences with original songs dedicated to R. Buckminster Fuller, Alan Turing, and Mae West, is “superb,” exclaims All About Jazz in its four-star review. “Darcy James Argue's Secret Society's Dynamic Maximum Tension is a delight.” The New York City Jazz Record adds: “Remarkable in its ambition, scope, and sheer length, this is Argue’s crowning achievement to date.”
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Rhiannon Giddens, who began a North American tour featuring music from her critically acclaimed new album, You’re the One, earlier this week, brings the show to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium tonight and Chicago’s Athenaeum Center on Sunday. "Giddens melds the past and present, writing a bold new future for herself in the process," says Rolling Stone. "One of Americana music's most vital voices expands her sound without abandoning her roots." "It’s easy to hear the joyous spirit in which she’s singing these songs," says Folk Alley, "and Giddens delivers a little masterpiece of an album that showcases her commanding presence as a singer and songwriter." Uncut calls the album an “accomplished tour d’horizon by [a] prolific polymath.”
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The Black Keys bring music from their latest album, Dropout Boogie, and more to Highlands Festival Grounds in Louisville on Saturday, for a headlining set at the Bourbon & Beyond festival.
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Pianist Jeremy Denk joins the Danish String Quartet at Wigmore Hall in London tonight, for a program that includes Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat K. 493, Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat Op. 44, Ligeti’s Etudes Book 1, and Britten’s 3 Divertimenti for string quartet. Denk performs Mozart, Schumann, Ligeti, and more on his 2019 album, c. 1300–c. 2000, which the Telegraph calls “quite exhilarating.” “Full of contrast and surprise,” says the Observer, “this is a richly personal gallery of sound.”
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Brad Mehldau brings his new work for solo piano, 14 Reveries—a reflection on the interior experience we create from our own consciousness, independent of others—to the National Concert Hall in Dublin on Sunday. Mehldau’s new live solo album, Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles, was released on Nonesuch earlier this year. Mojo gives it four stars, calling it “an inspired set that reveals new ways of hearing pop classics.” The first-ever vinyl edition of his 2002 Jon Brion–produced album, Largo, was released in June. “Gorgeous and brilliant,” raved the Boston Globe. “Mehldau has crafted a new-jazz soundscape that bursts with pop smarts.”
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Chris Thile, who began a ten-day tour of his former home state of Kentucky with the Louisville Orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams last night, performs his new piece, ATTENTION!—A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra, at Iroquois Amphitheater on Saturday, part of the orchestra’s season-opening concert, Our Kentucky Home. The program, which also features guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Branson and mezzo-soprano Sara Adams, also includes Aaron Copland’s “Hoe-Down”; Prokofiev’s Symphony No.1 in D major, Op. 25 “Classical”; Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances; and Home—an original work by Branson and Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps member Lisa Bielawa. The San Francisco Classical Voice, reviewing the West Coast premiere of ATTENTION! with Thile and the LA Phil led by Abrams at the Hollywood Bowl last month, called it “always entertaining … an eclectic soup that takes in bluegrass licks, rock, folk, and classical strains.”
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Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway bring music from their critically acclaimed new album, City of Gold, to the main stage at Pepsi Amphitheater in Flagstaff, Arizona, tonight, as part of Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival. “With City of Gold, Molly Tuttle continues her ascent,” writes PopMatters, declaring it “one of the year's best albums.” American Songwriter, in its four-star review, calls the album an “astute blend of bluegrass and Americana ... this City of Gold shines bright indeed.” Bandcamp Daily, including the album on its list of “The Best Country Music on Bandcamp: July 2023,” writes: “At this point, Tuttle and Golden Highway are must-hear attractions.”
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Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko), whose new album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, is out today, continues her tour of Europe, as special guest of Arlo Parks, with sold-out shows at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels tonight and Huxley's Neue Welt in Berlin on Sunday. A video for the album track “Lexicon” was released earlier this week and may be seen here.
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