Foundation Passerelle, the organization founded by Rokia Traoré to help her fellow Malians prepare for careers in music, has been awarded the first-ever Roskilde Festival World Music Award. Rokia will accept the 30,000 euro award, on the foundation's behalf, from the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen at the Womex world music conference on November 1. She had already been scheduled to attend this year's Womex to speak about the foundation.

The music of Bill Frisell's latest release, Disfarmer, was inspired by the work of 20th-century Arkansas photographer Mike Disfarmer. Jazz Times finds the imagery and music to be well matched, the songs "a collective act of the imagination that comes close to deciphering Disfarmer’s mystery." The albums is "one of Frisell’s most accessible," says the magazine, its music both "old and new, rich in common history, and beyond genre."

When John Adams's City Noir received its world premiere early this month in the gala Opening Night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under its new music director Gustavo Dudamel, it was met with rave reviews and an adulatory audience response. The performance, which was paired with Mahler's First Symphony, airs tonight on PBS's Great Performances. On his new blog, Adams praises Dudamel as "the genuine article."

The Low Anthem played its first-ever West Coast show this past weekend at Chop Suey in Seattle, meeting up with Blind Pilot on Monday to start a three-week tour together. While in Seattle, the trio stopped by KEXP to perform a four-song session; tune in tonight at 9 PM PST to hear it. Leading to this Friday's show in LA, Jeff Prystowsky spoke with LAist, which describes the new album as "chocked full of intelligent lyrics inspired by America's past and present laid gently on top of harmonies that make your heart ache."

Joshua Redman and his trio begin a five-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard tonight. The New York Times says to expect "plenty of dynamism in the exchange" from the trio; the Village Voice says that "Redman's authoritative these days, and he's taught his team how to keep lots of balls in the air at once." The Guardian gives four stars to the saxophonist's recent concert with Brad Mehldau in London and the Mehldau Trio's own show there, citing the pianist's "remarkable contrapuntal improvising style and incisive musical intelligence."

I Am Love, the film to which John Adams has contributed his first-ever score, has been nominated for a Hollywood World Award for best international film; the Los Angeles Times says the score "adds a staggering emotional punch" to the film. The Times review of Sunday's LA Master Chorale performance of Klinghoffer Choruses calls Adams "an American icon" and the opera's music as "some of the most haunting Adams has written." The composer delivers the Tanner Lectures on Human Values next week at Yale.

Natalie Merchant will give her first UK performance in over seven years at Conway Hall in London November 16, showcasing material from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut. The previous Friday, Natalie will join the London Jazz Festival Orchestra at the Barbican for the London Jazz Festival's Opening Night; a week later, she'll perform at the Crossing Border festival in The Hague. This Friday, UK fans can catch Natalie on a special episode of BBC Two's Newsnight.

Alarm Will Sound celebrated the recent release of its Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, with an album release and listening party at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge last night. Alan Pierson, the group's artistic director, and Gavin Chuck, its managing director, spoke with BBC's The Strand about the new album, which, says the BBC, "even includes a few tracks that it was thought impossible for human beings to play."

Wilco closes out the US leg of its fall tour tonight in the second of two consecutive shows in its hometown, at the University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion, with fellow locals Tortoise opening. The Chicago Sun-Times review of Sunday's set calls them "visionaries"; the Chicago Tribune says Wilco has "evolved into something of a mini-orchestra." The National Post says Wilco's shows in Toronto last week "solidified its position as one of the greatest that ever DID get signed."

Bill Frisell takes his 858 Quartet to Southern France to start a three-week European tour tomorrow night. JamBase says his recent Nonesuch release, Disfarmer, "should please any fan of such Frisell classics as 1997’s Nashville and 1999’s outstanding Good Dog, Happy Man." The songs, inspired by the haunting work of early 20th-century American photographer Mike Disfarmer, "perfectly capture the era and the region in all of its sepia-toned beauty."

Alarm Will Sound throws album release party in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Christina Courtin heads south ... Philip Glass heads weekend of piano and dance at Chicago museum ... Bill Frisell Trio plays The Kennedy Center ... Emmylou Harris tours with Buddy Miller ... Low Anthem headlines in the Northwest ... Brad Mehldau Trio launches tour from London ... Punch Brothers play Carnegie Hall ... Joshua Redman Trio traverses Europe ... Allen Toussaint travels to two jazz fests ... Sara Watkins joins John Prine in Canada ... Wilco winds via Chicago ... and more ...

Youssou N'Dour is in New York City tonight as an honoree, along with President Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson, of The Black Ball, a benefit event for Keep a Child Alive to support children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India; he is set to perform as well. Youssou was in the city last night for a Q&A at a screening of the film I Bring What I Love. He is due to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at London's Africa Music Awards on Saturday.