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."

Nonesuch Records releases the first recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson, on CD and digital today, with the vinyl due August 5. The composition was originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3). A video of the composer talking about Reich/Richter may be seen here.

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.

The Black Keys’ eleventh studio album, Dropout Boogie, is out now. “Some of the stickiest alt-boogie of their career,” says Rolling Stone. “Still raw, fast and loose,” adds the Associated Press. Classic Rock magazine exclaims: “Rock'n'roll in 2022 doesn't get any better than this.” The band was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform the tracks “It Ain’t Over” and “Wild Child"; you can watch both here. The Black Keys will tour North America for the first time in three years starting in July. The band will take part in an iHeart Radio album release party tonight.

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.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway’s new album, Crooked Tree, is now on vinyl, following its recent release on CD and digital. The album, recorded live in Nashville, was produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and features collaborations with Sierra Hull, Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dan Tyminski, and Gillian Welch. The tracks, all written or co-written by Tuttle, explore her lifelong love of bluegrass. "Molly Tuttle's fingers move so quickly, she could pick your pocket without breaking stride," says the New York Times. NPR calls it "dashingly virtuosic." It "feels like the album Molly Tuttle was destined to make," says Uncut. You can watch the new video for the album track "Flatland Girl," featuring Margo Price, and get tickets for Tuttle and the band's tour here.

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."

Pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan’s StandArt—his first album of American standards—is out now. StandArt includes songs from the 1920s through the 1950s, by Richard Rodgers, Charlie Parker, Jerome Kern, David Raksin, and others; it also includes a piece Hamasyan improvised with his bandmates—bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown—and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. Other special guests include saxophonists Joshua Redman and Mark Turner. Hamasyan tours Europe in May and the US in June.

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.

Nonesuch releases seven special editions of Wilco’s landmark 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on September 16, available to pre-order now. The now-classic record has been remastered and will be available as part of each set. The Super Deluxe version comprises eleven vinyl LPs and one CD—including demos, drafts, and instrumentals, charting the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot—plus a live 2002 concert recording and a September 2001 radio performance and interview. That box set includes 82 previously unreleased music tracks as well as a new book featuring an interview with Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke; an in-depth essay by journalist/author Bob Mehr; and previously unseen photos of the band making the album in their Chicago studio. A version of "Reservations," recorded live in concert at The Pageant in St. Louis in 2002, is out now. You can watch Wilco perform the track “Poor Places” on last night’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert here. The band is currently performing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its entirety (plus a mix of concert favorites and rarities) in two limited runs at NYC’s United Palace and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre; the April 23 Chicago show will stream live.

Nonesuch Records releases the first recording of Steve Reich’s Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson, on June 10, 2022, with the vinyl due August 5. The composition was originally written to be performed with German visual artist Gerhard Richter and Corinna Belz’s film Moving Picture (946-3). Album preorders are available here now. A video of the composer talking about Reich/Richter may be seen here.

Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and musician Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway’s new album, Crooked Tree, is out today on CD and digital via Nonesuch Records—Tuttle’s first release on the label; the vinyl is due May 13. The album, recorded live in Nashville, was produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and features collaborations with Sierra Hull, Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dan Tyminski, and Gillian Welch. The tracks, all written or co-written by Tuttle, explore her lifelong love of bluegrass. "Molly Tuttle's fingers move so quickly, she could pick your pocket without breaking stride," says the New York Times. NPR calls it "dashingly virtuosic." It "feels like the album Molly Tuttle was destined to make," says Uncut. "Everything sounds alive, vital, and perfectly in focus," says Mojo. You can watch the new video for the album track "Castilleja" and get tickets for Tuttle and the band's ongoing tour here.