Brad Mehldau’s new album, Jacob’s Ladder, first released on CD and digital in March, is now available in a double vinyl set. The album features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock he loved as a young adolescent—his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. Mojo calls it "a kaleidoscopic affair, where baroque prog-rock edifices are juxtaposed with clouds of ethereal choirs, dreamy piano interludes, and squalls of free jazz-style clarinet. Skillfully weaving these elements into storytelling sound collages, Mehldau takes the listener on a memorable musical journey."

Ahead of the long-awaited world premiere of Omar, the opera composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, next Friday, Giddens has released her own recording of the song “Julie’s Aria” from the opera. The recording was made by Giddens with guitarist Bill Frisell and her frequent collaborator Francesco Turrisi. Omar is based on the life and autobiography of enslaved Muslim scholar Omar Ibn Said, who was forcefully brought to Charleston from Africa in 1807. “My work as a whole is about excavating and shining a light on pieces of history that not only need to be seen and heard," Giddens says, "but that can also add to the conversation about what’s going on now. This is a story that hasn’t been represented in the operatic world—or in any world.” Omar will also be performed by LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson makes her Nonesuch debut with two albums, Amaryllis and Belladonna, out now. The two suites come in a two-LP vinyl set or as two separate CDs and digital albums, produced and mixed by John Dieterich. "These are new landmarks in Halvorson’s already inimitable discography," exclaims the Guardian in a five-star, Jazz Album of the Month review. Amaryllis is a six-song suite performed by a newly formed sextet of master improvisers; the Mivos string quartet joins for three of the songs, making this the largest ensemble for which Halvorson has written to date; you can watch a new video for the title track here. Belladonna is a set of five compositions written for Halvorson on guitar plus the Mivos Quartet, whose parts are through-composed and augmented by Halvorson’s guitar improvisations. They celebrate the albums’ release with performances of the two suites in Brooklyn, New Hampshire, and Quebec next week.

A three-LP/CD box set of albums from the great Argentine composer, bandleader, and bandoneón player Astor Piazzolla originally released by American Clavé Records in the 1980s later reissued by Nonesuch is out now. Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings marks the first time this landmark trio of albums—Tango: Zero Hour, La Camorra, and The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado)—is available as a set, now remastered, and the first time the albums have been available on vinyl since their initial American Clavé release. The set features original and new notes by the albums' producer and American Clavé founder Kip Hanrahan and an essay from journalist Fernando González. Uncut exclaims: "On its own, each album makes a fine introduction to Piazzolla's music, but together, they comprise a monumental contribution to world music."

Nearly sixty years after they first played together, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, longtime friends and collaborators, reunite with an album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives: GET ON BOARD: THE SONGS OF SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE MCGHEE, out today on Nonesuch Records. With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo—joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass—the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, who they both first heard as teenagers in California. Also out today is a video them performing the song "Cornbread, Peas, Black Molasses," which you can watch here.