Alarm Will Sound throws album release party in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Christina Courtin heads south ... Philip Glass heads weekend of piano and dance at Chicago museum ... Bill Frisell Trio plays The Kennedy Center ... Emmylou Harris tours with Buddy Miller ... Low Anthem headlines in the Northwest ... Brad Mehldau Trio launches tour from London ... Punch Brothers play Carnegie Hall ... Joshua Redman Trio traverses Europe ... Allen Toussaint travels to two jazz fests ... Sara Watkins joins John Prine in Canada ... Wilco winds via Chicago ... and more ...

Youssou N'Dour is in New York City tonight as an honoree, along with President Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson, of The Black Ball, a benefit event for Keep a Child Alive to support children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India; he is set to perform as well. Youssou was in the city last night for a Q&A at a screening of the film I Bring What I Love. He is due to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at London's Africa Music Awards on Saturday.

The Low Anthem has spent the better part of the days since the release of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin this spring on the road, performing at clubs and concert halls across the United States and Europe. The trio makes a quick stop at home in Providence tonight, before touring with Blind Pilot, for a unique show at The Avon, a historic old movie house.

Allen Toussaint and Amadou & Mariam are featured guests on the American broadcast of the famed UK performance show Later ... with Jools Holland. The episode, which previously aired in the UK, is being shown for the first time in the US tonight on the cable arts channel Ovation TV, at 9 PM. And tune in next month to catch The Carolina Chocolate Drops on the show November 5.

 

Punch Brothers returns to Carnegie Hall for its first performance in Stern Auditorium this Friday, following the 2007 premiere of The Blind Leaving the Blind in Carnegie's Zankel Hall, the work later featured on the band's Nonesuch debut, Punch. To celebrate, Nonesuch is offering two free tickets to the show, plus a copy of the album Punch. Winners will also receive free entry into the concert's after party, courtesy of the makers of the forthcoming film about the Punch Brothers, How to Grow a Band.

Wilco's TransCanada tour doesn't take place till February 2010, but Toronto fans get a preview with two sold-out sets at Massey Hall tonight and Thursday, which John Stirratt previews in Canada's National Post. In A.V. Club Chicago, Jeff Tweedy responds to anonymous comments, both good and bad, left on sites around the web, ranging from his own hair care to fan expectations.

Bill Frisell and his trio are playing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on Friday, and the Prairie Center outside of Chicago, on Saturday. The Chicago Reader takes a look at the guitarist/composer with "an almost preternatural ability to evoke pensive, introspective moods of various flavors," and his latest Nonesuch release, Disfarmer, which "feels like a relatively unfettered expression of Frisell’s imagination."

Following a two-night set "stomping through songs from his fine solo debut, Keep It Hid" (New York Times) in Austin at Austin City Limits and an official ACL Aftershow, Dan Auerbach is set to begin a three-week North American tour with his band The Fast Five, beginning November 5 in Columbus, Ohio. Joining for the length of the tour are Justin Townes Earle and Jessica Lea Mayfield.

John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony "comes across as a tight, visceral ride that you won't want to miss," says New Music Box of the Nonesuch recording, and "the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Robertson light it on fire ... [I]t's as charmed a production as you could wish for." A new exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art features a sculpture inspired by the opera Doctor Atomic.

Wilco's North American tour winds its way north after several stops in the South, including Friday night's show at the Palladium in Dallas, Texas. "Wilco (the album) has garnered considerable critical acclaim for bridging the extremes of this wonderfully ambitious group," says the Star-Telegram. "As Friday’s excellent performance demonstrated, letting in a little light—and calmness—cements Wilco’s standing as one of America’s finest rock bands."

Shawn Colvin begins a four-night residency at Yoshi's in San Francisco tonight. Part of a larger tour across the United States, this week's sets take on added meaning as they mark a return to the site where Colvin's recent Nonesuch release, Live, was recorded back in July 2008, featuring 15 tracks from throughout her career.

Carolina Chocolate Drops come home to NC ... Black Keys drummer Pat Carney's band Drummer does NYC ... Shawn Colvin closes three-night stint in San Diego ... Christina Courtin's US tour moves Midwest ... Phillip Glass solos in PA benefit ... Kronos Quartet plays for a hometown crowd in San Fran ... Youssou N'Dour doc opens in DC ... Punch Brothers play Ohio and PA ... Sara Watkins makes it three for three in the Midwest ... Wilco's on for sold-out sets in Dallas and Memphis ... and more ...