With the year at its halfway point, NPR's jazz sampler, Take Five, has picked its choices for the Best New Jazz of 2010 (So Far). Two of the five come from Nonesuch: Orchestrion, on which Pat Metheny "makes every instrument an extension of his guitar skills, technical knowledge and sheer artistic willpower," and Highway Rider, on which Brad Mehldau "shows how much he's grown as a composer, and not just a renowned pianist."

Composer Timothy Andres has been nominated for Project 440, a new commissioning program from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and New York radio station WQXR that will culminate in the commissioning of four new works, to be premiered as part of the orchestra's 2011-2012 Carnegie Hall season. Comments from the public, via WQXR's website, will be a guiding factor in determining the final four composers to receive commissions.

Tony Allen has concluded his North American tour with music from his latest album, Secret Agent. The album is featured on NPR's Fresh Air and Afrobeat, which continues to thrive after all these years. "The prime living player to thank for this is Allen, who has keeping up the good work all along," says Fresh Air. "His newest solo album is called Secret Agent, and it sounds like the most fully rounded version of Tony Allen Afrobeat he's ever made."

Laurie Anderson's latest album, Homeland, is out tomorrow. Pitchfork rates the album 8.3, calling it "an exquisite state-of-the-union dispatch as only Anderson, America's darkly comic conscience, can provide ... The music is spacious, mercurial, and thoroughly conceived." The Baltimore Sun , LA Times, and the Independent (UK) give it four stars. Australia's Courier-Mail calls it "some of the most striking music of Anderson's career." MusicOMH gives the album a perfect five stars, exclaiming, "what a work of art it is."

Following a weekend at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Punch Brothers return to their adopted home of New York City to perform songs from their new album, Antifogmatic, in Brooklyn on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal talks with the band about New York's influence on the album, which the Journal says "brims with color, wit, flash and tenderness, all conveyed with remarkable musicianship and high spirits." You can watch Punch Brothers perform "This Is the Song" in New York, off the deluxe edition of Antifogmatic, at nonesuch.com/media.

I Am Love, the new film from director Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton and featuring the music of John Adams, has opened in New York and Los Angeles. Guadagnino tells the Los Angeles Times: "His music was so powerful and many scenes were written with it in mind." Adams spoke with the Washington Post, which calls the composer "one this country's most distinguished and most talented artists," his music "beautifully crafted, endlessly engaging and has won over audiences throughout the world."

In 1996, a group of Mali's finest musicians were due to fly into Havana for a speculative collaboration with some of Cuba's most brilliant singers and instrumentalists. For reasons that have never been made clear, the Malians never arrived. A very different album was recorded: Buena Vista Social Club. Now, World Circuit Records' Nick Gold, the man behind the 1996 venture, has brought the original invitees together and the great lost Afro-Cuban album will be released 14 years after originally planned.

Punch Brothers follow Tonight Show appearance with return to Telluride ... I Am Love, with music by John Adams, opens ... Tony Allen heads West ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed lead the Mermaid Parade ... David Byrne talks bikes in Chicago ... Carolina Chocolate Drops head from Texas to Telluride ... Shawn Colvin, Sara Watkins play Clearwater Fest ... Bill Frisell, Brad Mehldau duo in Germany ... Youssou N’Dour's Paris Grand Ball turns ten ... Joshua Redman's James Farm plays Seattle ... Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury give final performances in A Little Night Music ... and more ...

In April, Laurie Anderson, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music launched a search for collaborators to remix her new song, “Only an Expert,” from the album Homeland. The jury of experts, including Anderson and Lou Reed, have now chosen a Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up, and fans have chosen ten Honorable Mentions, all of which can be heard here. "We loved all the entries," says Anderson. "What a huge variety. Thanks for sending the great music."

Punch Brothers have been celebrating the release of their new album, Antifogmatic, touring with Steve Martin. Tonight, the band will perform the album track "Rye Whiskey" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The band was at Bonnaroo last Friday, photos from which are now on nonesuch.com/media. Paste says: "On Antifogmatic, the guys sound more sure of themselves, more polished, more self-aware. The warm harmonies and crisp mandolin plucks and fiddle strains ... ring with the resounding clarity the album’s title suggests."

Natalie Merchant offered an intimate performance at the 2010 Poetry Conference at West Chester University on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal reports that "poets, scholars and other enthusiasts reveling in rhyme, meter and narrative in verse were lined up like smitten rock fans waiting for Natalie Merchant to sign copies of her new, deluxe-edition, double-disc recording, Leave Your Sleep." The songs on album, says the Journal, "reveal an ideal fit between poetic and musical rhythms."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops made their Bonnaroo debut and were included among SPIN's 30 Must-Hear Artists there. Photographer Andrew Pearson was there, capturing all the action both onstage and behind the scenes with the band in photos now available at nonesuch.com/media. The band also played the culminating event of the Spoleto Festival, drawing more than 3,000 people to their set.