Nonesuch Records releases the first in a series of musical installments from singer Mandy Patinkin and pianist/producer Thomas Bartlett, Diary: January 27, 2018, recorded by the two musicians in Bartlett's New York studio. The ten tracks of this first Diary entry, out now, include songs by Randy Newman, Rufus Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright, Teitur, Marc Bolan (T. Rex), Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), and Marc Anthony Thompson (Chocolate Genius).

Kronos Quartet hosts its fourth-annual hometown festival at SFJAZZ … Sam Amidon brings The Following Mountain to Cincinnati, Chicago … Timo Andres performs at Milton Court in London … David Byrne takes American Utopia tour to Texas, New Orleans Jazz Fest … Jeremy Denk plays solo in California … Rhiannon Giddens is in the Carolinas … Audra McDonald performs in Princeton … Chris Thile hosts Live From Here from NYC … and more …

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) has announced its 2018–19 season, and among the artists performing this season, at Royce Hall or the Theatre at Ace Hotel, are Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny, Tigran Hamasyan, Nico Muhly, and Thomas Bartlett. Subscriptions are on sale now; individual tickets go on sale July 16.

Rostam has released a video in which he deconstructs the title track to his debut album, Half-Light. He breaks the song down part by part, instrument by instrument, vocal track by vocal track, including his own and those of featured vocalist Kelly Zutrau. See what he had to say and how the song came together in the video, directed by Alex Chaloff, here. Rostam resumes his Half-Light tour in late May.

Washington Performing Arts has announced its 2018–19 concert season, and among the performers the organization will present at various venues in the Washington, DC, area next season are Jeremy Denk (Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, January 29; Strathmore with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis, May 1), Kronos Quartet (Sixth & I, March 2), and Rhiannon Giddens (Sixth & I with Lara Downes, February 23).

The International Rescue Committee has named Mandy Patinkin an IRC Ambassador in recognition of his continued efforts to advocate for the welcoming of refugees around the world. He traveled with the IRC to Uganda to meet some of the more than one million South Sudanese refugees welcomed there. "Meeting with refugees from all around the world has made one thing very clear to me: all they want is a better tomorrow for their loved ones, their family, their children," says Patinkin. "This is why I am so proud of my partnership with the IRC—an organization tirelessly working to support the world's most vulnerable and give them a chance to survive and thrive despite the worst of circumstances."

Congratulations to Pat Metheny, who will receive the PRS for Music Gold Award at the Jazz FM Awards in London next Monday. He was named a 2018 NEA Jazz Master last week. Metheny begins a European tour in late June and tours North America in August and September.

Shye Ben-Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, currently touring Latin America as special guests of Radiohead, performing songs from their album Junun, will join Radiohead on its North American tour this summer. The tour starts with two sold-out nights at Chicago's United Center, followed by four sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City; two nights each in Montreal and Toronto; shows in Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh; and two nights each in Boston and Philadelphia. The Times of London called Junun "essential listening."

Rhiannon Giddens was on NPR's All Things Considered on Sunday. She spoke with host Michel Martin about her MacArthur Fellowship, the role of the banjo in her work, and her latest album, Freedom Highway, from which she performed two songs: "At the Purchaser's Option" and "Julie." You can hear the conversation and performance here.

Lake Street Dive has shared a behind-the-scenes look at their video for the track "I Can Change," from their forthcoming album, Free Yourself Up. "It's about a person who's looking at various things that are going on in the world and feeling a lot of frustration and a lot of anger over it," says singer Rachael Price. "And instead of giving in to those feelings, they're choosing to look inside themselves and say, 'Well, I have the ability to change myself.'" Watch the making-of and the official "I Can Change" videos here.

The soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, Phantom Thread, featuring Jonny Greenwood's Academy Award–nominated score, is now available on vinyl, following its CD and digital release earlier this year. The special vinyl edition includes the album on two 140-gram LPs and a 24-page booklet of Greenwood's score. IndieWire calls the score "a masterpiece," naming it the year's best, and one of the century's best as well. Look inside the vinyl package here.

Fleet Foxes release a new, limited-edition black vinyl 7" single at independent record stores for Record Store Day on Saturday: a special recording of the title track to their 2017 album, Crack-Up, performed with Icelandic women’s choir Graduale Nobili, in Reykjavik (watch a video here), b/w an intimate version of "In the Morning" recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Fleet Foxes' perform at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley tonight and return to Coachella on Saturday.