Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, longtime friends and frequent collaborators, head out for a three-week duo tour of Europe, heading to Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, and France. Following a solo tour for Mehldau and shows with James Farm for Redman, the two reunite for additional duo dates in the US and Europe this fall. Reviewing the duo's set at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Citizen says they make "music of uncommon depth and simpatico." All About Jazz says they "delivered a performance that will be remembered by those lucky enough to be there, for a long time to come."

Stephen Sondheim's Road Show received its European premiere at London's Menier Chocolate Factory last night, earning four stars across the board from The Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Standard. The Guardian says it is "lyrically witty, musically rich and has the sardonic satirical appeal of the Sondheim-Weidman Assassins ... full of vintage Sondheim." The Independent says it "has terrific drive, bite and buoyancy." The Evening Standard says it's "performed with sparkle." The Stage finds that its "rich, varied and tuneful score is as audacious and complex as any Sondheim has ever written."

James Farm and their self-titled debut album are featured on NPR's All Things Considered today. "New bands don't come along every day in jazz," says NPR's Tom Moon. "But listen to these unusual compositions, and to the lively exchanges that erupt inside of them. Even though these players can only make a partial commitment of time to James Farm, they're fully committed musically." The Los Angeles Times says: "While the term 'supergroup' may be a loaded concept, it's hard not to consider James Farm one ... The new ground covered by [Joshua] Redman and cohorts casts a spell of its own."

As Björk's Biophilia residency at the Manchester International Festival continues, so too does the critical acclaim for her. The Guardian says as a pop innovator, "Björk is peerless" and "remains an icon: tiny but titanic, thanks to the size of her voice and the scope of her imagination." The Daily Telegraph gives the performances four stars, citing the music's "transcendent beauty." The Financial Times says "Biophilia’s songs are some of the best Björk has written for a long time." Independent on Sunday calls it "brilliantly original and ambitious." The Quietus calls her "an international treasure." Björk is the guest editor of the entire 200th issue of Dazed & Confused, out Thursday.

The video for Ben Folds's "Working Day," off Lonely Avenue, his 2010 collaborative album with Nick Hornby, has premiered on the Huffington Post, which also features an interview with Folds. The video showcases audiences recorded during his January tour across the US Midwest, each given specific parts. The arrangement was later weaved together to create a 14,000 voice choir seen and heard on the video. Watch it here. Folds launches his US summer tour tomorrow in Tulsa.

AfroCubism has come to North America for a rare and all too brief four-city tour stopping in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Quebec. The Seattle Times, previewing tonight's tour-opening concert, calls the band's music "vivid, exciting, piquant stuff." The Financial Times gave four stars to the band's recent performance before "a jubilant audience" at Royal Albert Hall in London.

Stephen Sondheim's latest musical, Road Show, receives its European premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London tonight. This production is directed and designed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, who also directed the original production of Road Show at New York's Public Theater in 2008, which New York called “a boisterous picaresque about two brothers flimflamming their way from the Yukon to Boca Raton at the turn of the 20th century.”

Randy Newman is the guest on Words and Music from Studio A from New York's NPR member station WFUV tonight. Newman performs songs from his new album, Songbook Vol. 2, and talks with host Claudia Marshall about the project, which takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs. Newman is the subject of a week-long series of articles from Filter, which says of the Songbook albums: "These stripped-down versions expose the complexity of Newman’s piano phrasing and put his lyrics at the forefront."

Jessica Lea Mayfield is the guest on today's episode of NPR's World Cafe. She and her band perform four songs off her new album, Tell Me, and Mayfield talks with the show's host, David Dye, about the album, which was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Mayfield is currently on a cross-country tour of the United States. Starting this coming Sunday, Mayfield joins up with The Avett Brothers for more than a week's worth of tour dates out West.

Pat Metheny's new album, What's It All About, receives four-and-a-half stars from Audiophile Audition. "What makes his latest CD special is that he makes familiar popular songs that most listeners will recognize come alive," raves Audiophile Audition. "[T]he acoustics here are stunning ... This CD has Grammy written all over it." The BBC says Metheny's guitar "provides a sumptuous setting" for the songs on the album. The Lexington Herald Leader says it makes for "some glorious new summer music."

Björk gave the world premiere of her Biophilia live show last night, launching the Manchester International Festival. The New York Times says: "The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of breakbeat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies." The Guardian gives the concert four stars: "Bjork's voice still sounded gloriously childlike and otherworldly, a voice from what at times literally felt like a parallel dimension." The Times of London gives four stars as well: "For all the gadgetry and theatricality of this show, the elemental voice at its core was still the most remarkable instrument." The Manchester Evening News calls it "extraordinary."