Journal
- Friday, November 22, 2024
The Way Out of Easy, the first album from guitarist Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet—saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose—since their 2022 debut Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, which Pitchfork named one of the Best Albums of the 2020s So Far, is out now on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records. Like that album, The Way Out of Easy comprises recordings from LA venue ETA, where Parker and the ensemble held a weekly residency for seven years. During that time, the ETA IVtet evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form journeys into innovative, groove-oriented improvised music. All four tracks on The Way Out of Easy come from a single night in 2023, providing an unfiltered view of the ensemble, fully in their element.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News
- Tuesday, June 20, 2023
The music manuscripts and papers of composer and conductor John Adams have been acquired by the Library of Congress. “The Library of Congress could scarcely conjure a contemporary music collection that carries with it as much recognition and consequence as the manuscripts and papers of John Adams,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We are proud to count the collection of Adams’ materials among our prized music treasures.” “To have my archives under the care and preservation of the Library of Congress is a great privilege,” said Adams. “Over the years I have visited the Music Division, met their brilliant staff and had the special chance to hold in my hands manuscripts by among others, Brahms, Schoenberg, Bernstein, and Charlie Parker. As an American composer—especially with a name like mine—it seems only right that my own work should be with this great institution.”
Journal Topics: Artist NewsFriday, June 16, 2023Brad Mehldau’s acclaimed 2002 Jon Brion–produced album Largo, which turned 20 last year, receives its first-ever vinyl release, on Nonesuch Records today. Mehldau experiments with electronic instrumentation on this set of original and borrowed tunes, including Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and "Mother Nature's Son." "Gorgeous and brilliant,” raved the Boston Globe. “Mehldau has crafted a new-jazz soundscape that bursts with pop smarts." You can take a quick look inside the 2-LP set in an unboxing video here.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, June 16, 2023This festival-filled weekend, Emmylou Harris, Chris Thile, Punch Brothers, and Nickel Creek return to Telluride Bluegrass Festival for its 50th. Makaya McCraven plays Bonnaroo. Molly Tuttle continues a childhood tradition at the Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley, CA, with her band Golden Highway. The Black Keys are at Pinkpop in the Netherlands and in Paris with guests Spoon. Sam Amidon plays Solas Festival in Scotland. Caroline Shaw is at Louth Contemporary Music Society Festival in Ireland. Laurie Anderson concludes her European tour in Gothenburg, Oslo, and Berlin. Performances of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love begin on Broadway.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On Tour, Weekend EventsThursday, June 15, 2023Vagabon, aka Lætitia Tamko, will release her new album, Sorry I Haven’t Called, September 15. She reinvents herself once again with the most playful and adventurous music of her career. Co-produced by Tamko and Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Haim), the album features twelve vibrant tracks she wrote and produced primarily in Germany that channel dance music and effervescent pop through her own confident sensibilities. “This record feels like what I've been working towards,” Tamko says. “It's completely euphoric.” You can watch the video for the new track "Can I Talk My Shit?" here and catch Vagabon on tour this fall.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsThursday, June 15, 2023Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway have released the official music video for "Next Rodeo," a recently released song from their upcoming album, City of Gold, due July 21. You can watch the video, directed by Edgar Evan and starring Tuttle and the band—fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, bass player Shelby Means, and banjo player Kyle Tuttle—as well as special guest actors Seth Clarke and Morgan Watkins, here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoThursday, June 15, 2023The inaugural season of the new PBS series My Music with Rhiannon Giddens—in which Giddens celebrates the United States’ rich and varied musical traditions and its modern offshoots by hosting musical performances and conversations with guest artists filmed on location around the South—concludes this week with her own partner and collaborator, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, and her longtime bassist, Jason Sypher. In the episode, Giddens and Turrisi look back at their meeting, the discovery of their musical affinities, and their shared vision of musical heritage that crosses borders. You can watch it here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, VideoWednesday, June 14, 2023Natalie Merchant was on NPR's World Cafe to talk with host Kallao about her new album, Keep Your Courage, and give intimate performances of four songs from it: "Come On, Aphrodite," "Narcissus," "Big Girls," and "Tower of Babel." "It's a beautiful record that revolves around love in its many forms," says Kallao. "She calls it like she sees it, and that's a guest you feel lucky to speak with. And I think you'll dig hearing it." You can do that here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, RadioTuesday, June 13, 2023Cécile McLorin Salvant stopped by Amoeba Music in San Francisco for a shopping trip and a chat for Amoeba’s What’s in My Bag? series, in which she picks up an expectedly eclectic selection of music by Puccini, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Charlie Parker, Abbey Lincoln, Björk (“I love her. She inspires me deeply.”), Patty Waters, Love, El Camarón De La Isla with Paco De Lucía, MF Doom, Chaka Khan, and Meat Puppets. You can take a look inside and hear what she has to say about her picks here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoFriday, June 9, 2023Rhiannon Giddens, Music Director for this weekend's Ojai Music Festival in California, takes part in a number of performances streaming live from Ojai at ojaifestival.org. Laurie Anderson is in Madrid and London. Timo Andres performs Chopin and Joplin in Brooklyn. Emmylou Harris is in Denver with Dwight Yoakam. Hurray for the Riff Raff gives theatrical performance of 2017's The Navigator at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in Hamburg. Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered gets West Coast premiere in Portland.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsWednesday, June 7, 2023The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Koerner Hall in Toronto has announced its 2023–24 concert season—the venue’s fifteenth anniversary season—including performances from Rhiannon Giddens, Brad Mehldau, Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quartet, and Richard Goode.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourTuesday, June 6, 2023The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) has announced its 2023–24 season, including Gabriel Kahane & Attacca Quartet performing from his album Magnificent Bird in the new UCLA Nimoy Theater on October 22 and Kronos Quartet celebrating its fiftieth anniversary season in Royce Hall on April 28, as well as several other artists who can be hear on Nonesuch recordings.
Journal Topics: Artist News, On TourFriday, June 2, 2023Natalie Merchant performs two sold-out shows at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in NYC backed by The Knights orchestra. John Adams conducts The Death of Klinghoffer in Amsterdam, broadcast on NPO Klassiek. Laurie Anderson launches European tour at Primavera Sound in Barcelona. Julia Bullock joins Kansas City Symphony for Mahler and more. Yussef Dayes tours mid-Atlantic. Hurray for the Riff Raff performs at Natural History Museum in LA. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in Utrecht. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway open for Dierks Bentley in Michigan and Ohio, then head to Kentucky.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend Events