Tigran Hamasyan will begin a world tour ahead of the March 31 release of his new album, An Ancient Observer, starting with three nights at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, February 25–27. The US leg of the tour continues with shows in Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Boston, and NYC. The European tour begins in Italy on March 17, with stops in Switzerland, France, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Norway, Estonia, Switzerland, and Hamasyan's home country of Armenia. He heads to Japan in May and to Australia in June.

The Magnetic Fields have unveiled the video for "'83 Foxx and I," a song on the forthcoming album 50 Song Memoir. The song, which may be downloaded now with pre-orders of the album, is one of fifty on the five-disc set that chronicles the fifty years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year. The video was directed by Alex Basco Koch and produced by José Zayas for Ghost Corporeal. It was originally created for the Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir concert tour directed by Zayas. Watch it here.

Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau were the guests on NPR's World Cafe. They spoke with host David Dye and performed three songs from their just-released debut duo album together: Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," David Rawling and Gillian Welch's "Scarlet Town," and Elliott Smith's "Independence Day." "It is extraordinary," says host Dye of the new album. "Two players from different genres, bluegrass and jazz, further the thinking that genres are just not that important to improvisers." Find out what they had to say and hear the performances here.

The Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir, which chronicles the fifty years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year, is due March 10 on Nonesuch. Merritt spoke with writer Michael Hill about the project, from its conception over lunch (with Nonesuch's Bob Hurwitz) through the songwriting (nonfiction material making its first appearance in his work) to its recording (he sings vocals on all fifty songs and plays more than one hundred instruments).

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, the debut duo album from the Nonesuch labelmates, is out now. At the end of 2015, the longtime admirers of each other's work played a two-night stand at NYC's Bowery Ballroom (videos from which you can watch here) before going into the studio to record the double album. "This meeting of two masters of their respective realms is a spine-tingling triumph," raves a five-star Irish Times review. The Guardian gives the album four stars, saying: "Two very different musicians hit a remarkable rapport on this double album." The four-star BBC Music Magazine review says "the vivid dynamic really puts a bright face on this mix of original and old song covers from across the jazz, folk and country spectrum." 

The line-up for the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and among this year's artists are Rhiannon Giddens and Lake Street Dive, both performing on Friday, May 5. Jazz Fest runs over seven days across two weekends, April 28–30 and May 4–7. Also among the performers at this year's Jazz Fest are Wilco, Dr. John, and several contributors to the 2005 benefit album Our New Orleans.

Timo Andres performs Steve Reich in Miami … John Adams’s Nixon in China returns to Houston Grand Opera … Devendra Banhart tours California … Teresa Cristina is in Brazil … Audra McDonald performs out West … Pat Metheny continues quartet tour in Southeast US … Conor Oberst plays Paris, Utrecht … Joshua Redman joins Umphrey's McGee for three shows in Northeast US … and more …

Happy birthday in advance to composer Philip Glass, who turns 80 this coming Tuesday. Among the celebratory events around the world this concert season is a BBC Total Immersion Day, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from the Barbican in London this Saturday. NPR Music is marking Glass's milestone birthday with personal reflections from artists who have collaborated with the composer, including Laurie Anderson and Nico Muhly.

Mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau make their duo debut together with Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, a mix of covers and original songs, out this Friday, January 27, 2017. Here, the label mates and longtime admirers of each other's work speak with writer Michael Hill about the project and how it came to be.

Devendra Banhart launches a two-month North American tour, featuring music from his 2016 album, Ape in Pink Marble, at The Showbox in Seattle tonight. The tour continues with stops in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boulder, Santa Fe, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, New York City, and more. The European tour begins in April.

Celebrations of John Adams's 70th birthday, which began in fall 2016, continue through 2017 with major festivities taking place in the composer's native California, organized around his birthday on February 15, and throughout the winter and spring in New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and more.

Nonesuch Records releases a vinyl 7-inch single of two Randy Newman songs today, Inauguration Day 2017: "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," from the new Randy Newman Songbook box set, b/w "Putin," a new song previously released only digitally. Newman says: "On this day, I would like to say a few words in defense of our country."