"The winner of five Grammy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, John Adams is one of America's greatest and most performed living composers," BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life host John Wilson says of his guest. They talk about Adams' life, work, and the influence of Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Steve Reich, Charles Dickens, the state of California, and more. You can hear their conversation here.

Brad Mehldau stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. He chose recordings by Richard Goode, Dawn Upshaw, Adam Guettel, Kronos Quartet, and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society. You can watch it here.

"There is a dreamy, hard-to-place quality to the sound of MESTIZX," WNYC Studios' New Sounds host John Schaefer says of Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly's new album, which sets the tone for the latest episode of the show, focused on songs from the Caribbean and South America that "mix cultures and styles and instruments." There are tracks from MESTIZX; Gustavo Santaolalla's acclaimed 1998 album Ronroco, recently released on vinyl for the first time; Gaby Kerpel's 2003 Santaolalla-produced Nonesuch album, Carnabailito; and more. You can hear it here.

Congratulations to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Darcy James Argue, Mary Halvorson, and Ambrose Akinmusire, who have all won the Jazz Journalists Association's 2024 JJA Jazz Awards: Salvant for Female Vocalist of the Year, Argue for Arranger of the Year, Halvorson for Guitarist of the Year, and Akinmusire for Trumpeter of the Year.

Molly Tuttle performed a set of two songs from her and her band Golden Highway’s album City of Gold—“Alice in the Bluegrass” and “Evergreen, OK”—plus a cover of Jefferson Airplane's “White Rabbit," for Paste from MerleFest 2024. You can watch it here.

Brad Mehldau’s After Bach II and Après Fauré are out now on Nonesuch Records. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. Here Mehldau’s four compositions that Fauré inspired are presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works.

Hurray for the Riff Raff kicks off a European tour in Dublin, Manchester, and Glasgow. The Black Keys take Ohio Players to Paris. John Adams' El Niño is at The Met Opera in NYC with Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines. Timo Andres performs in New Jersey. Jeremy Denk joins Antwerp Symphony Orchestra in Belgium. Gabriel Kahane and Pekka Kuusisto perform at 92Y in NYC. Kronos Quartet is in Dublin. Brad Mehldau is in Hamburg and Frankfurt. Cécile McLorin Salvant concludes French tour in Lyon. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are in Indianapolis and Detroit.

Congratulations to Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), who has been nominated for the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards' Album of the Year for their new album, The Past Is Still Alive. The ceremony will be held at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 18.

"Their latest, Ohio Players, is a blast," NPR's World Cafe host Kallao says of his guests, The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, and their new album. You can hear their conversation and a live performance of three album tracks—"Beautiful People (Stay High)," "This Is Nowhere," and "On The Game"—from this year's SXSW here.

"Grammy-nominated composer, flutist, and vocalist Nathalie Joachim is one of today's most dynamic and innovative musical forces," David Krauss, MET Opera Principal Trumpet and host of the Speaking Soundly podcast, says of his guest, whose new album, Ki moun ou ye, was released in February. "Her compositions mesmerize audiences, weaving together classical, pop, electronic, and world music influences into a breathtaking tapestry of sound." You can hear their conversation about Joachim's life and music here.

DAVÓNE TINES & THE TRUTH’s “LET IT SHINE” is the first song from their new work ROBESOИ. In ROBESOИ, which premieres June 27 (preview June 26) at NYC’s Little Island, Davóne Tines grapples with the legacy of a hero. Exploding the musical repertoire of Paul Robeson, Tines and his band THE TRUTH take us on a trip from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the floor of a Moscow hotel room, in an attempt to understand an icon not through aspiring to his monumentality, but through connecting to his vulnerability. The members of THE TRUTH are pianist John Bitoy and sound artist Khari Lucas. Details of the forthcoming ROBESOИ album, Tines’ solo recording debut, will be announced soon.

MESTIZX, Bolivian-born singer and multimedia performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly's debut full-length album as co-composers, arrangers, and musicians, is out now. Partners in both marriage and art, the Amsterdam-based duo dove deep into the sounds of their respective ancestral roots in Bolivia, Brazil, and Puerto Rico to create this deeply personal meditation on decolonization and the defiant power of ritual and protest. Also out today is a video for the album track "TURBULÊNCIA."