Laurie Anderson with Sexmob's Let X=X is out now. This triple-LP / double-CD set was recorded live during a 2023 tour by Anderson and the jazz band Sexmob—Steven Bernstein on brass, Kenny Wollesen on drums and percussion, Douglas Wieselman on winds and guitar, Briggan Krauss on saxophone and guitar, and Tony Scherr on bass. The album features 23 songs, including many favorites from throughout Anderson’s career, performed in new arrangements—plus one by Lou Reed and Metallica, “Junior Dad.” Their performance of "O Superman," from Anderson’s landmark 1982 album, Big Science, at the Ravenna Festival in 2023, can be seen here. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer.

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Live Forever is now available on CD and double LP, following its recent digital release. It was captured live over the course of two sold-out summer nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music in bandleader Alynda Segarra’s new home of Chicago. Spanning 14 songs, Live Forever presents their acclaimed 2024 album The Past Is Still Alive in its entirety, as well as a selection of set-defining staples, like “Pa’lante,” “Pyramid Scheme,” and LIFE ON EARTH’s “Precious Cargo” and “Rhododendron.”

Flea and the Honora Band—Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks—tour Toronto and Montreal. Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson perform in Carnegie Hall. Mary Halvorson is in Portugal and Switzerland. Brad Mehldau is in Toronto and Iowa City. Natalie Merchant and Chicago Symphony Orchestra members perform Mother Goose & the Cabinet of Wonder. Shara Nova joins National Philharmonic for The Blue Hour in Maryland. Cécile McLorin Salvant and Ambrose Akinmusire play Gilmore International Piano Festival finale in Kalamazoo. Robert Plant and Saving Grace kick off South America tour in Buenos Aires. Molly Tuttle and Maggie Rose are in San Antonio and New Orleans.

Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson have released "Blood & Sand," from their forthcoming album, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings, due June 12. "That's a piece I wrote a long time ago," Halvorson says. "It's perfect for Ambrose, that melody. I always care quite a lot about melody ... just trying to create a strong melody and interlocking parts with the guitar and trumpet." You can hear it here. 

Congratulations to composer Caroline Shaw, who has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score for her score to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman on Broadway. This is the first Tony Awards nomination for Shaw, who is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This production of Death of a Salesman is the most nominated play of the season with nine nominations, including Best Revival.

Punch Brothers—mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjoist Noam Pikelny, and violinist Brittany Haas—begin a sixty-four city North American tour on May 14, performing through the spring, summer, and fall in celebration of their new album, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, due July 24 on Nonesuch Records. They will make stops throughout the East Coast, South, Midwest, Rockies, Southwest, West Coast and Canada, with headlining shows at venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, NY and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN; and performances at festivals including Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Spoleto Festival, among others. It is the band’s most extensive tour since 2019. 

Rhiannon Giddens has announced a European tour for this autumn, starting in Groningen, the Netherlands, on September 22. The first leg of the tour continues with stops in Antwerp, Utrecht, Paris, Luxembourg, Manchester, and Dublin, culminating in Belfast on October 3. Giddens is then the focus of a Reflektor series at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, November 25–29. The tour concludes December 6-8 in London, Edinburgh, and Gateshead.

Congratulations to drummer, producer, and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven, who is among this year's Doris Duke Artist Awards honorees. "A leading voice in contemporary jazz," says the Doris Duke Foundation citation, "he is acclaimed for transforming live improvisations into meticulously edited soundscapes that push the boundaries of the genre." McCraven and his fellow honorees each receive an unrestricted award of $525,000 along with up to $25,000 in retirement savings support. Beyond the award, recipients gain access to ongoing resources including professional development, financial planning, and a network designed to support sustained creative work.

Jeff Parker talks Happy Today at Chicago film screening. Rhiannon Giddens tours Texas. Mary Halvorson is in New Haven and at Long Play Festival in Brooklyn. Kronos Quartet is in Santa Barbara. The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt performs and DJs in NYC. Molly Tuttle and Ketch Secor tour California.

Brad Mehldau's recent concert at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band conducted and with arrangements by its composer-in-residence Darcy James Argue, can now be seen on ARTE. "Brad Mehldau ranks among the most significant jazz pianists of our time," says ARTE. "One of the most influential pianists of recent decades, Mehldau has garnered a following extending far beyond the jazz world." Argue, whom ARTE says "possesses the ability to propel big-band music into uncharted territory," has has been nominated for the JJA Jazz Award for Arranger of the Year; his arrangements can be heard on Cécile McLorin Salvant's forthcoming orchestral album, With Every Breath I Take.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s album With Every Breath I Take, her first with orchestra, featuring The Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley, is due June 26. Salvant and the ensemble perform timeless songs—by Cy Coleman, Noël Coward, Duke Ellington, Stephen Sondheim, Billy Strayhorn, and Salvant—newly arranged by composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue. “It is a rare opportunity to be able to make an album at this scale, which has been a dream of mine for many years,” she says. “Darcy James Argue wrote stunning arrangements and the Metropole Orkest, conducted by the extraordinary Jules Buckley, gave these stories a cinematic dimension ... I am so incredibly proud to share it."

Flea was on NPR's Fresh Air to talk with host Terry Gross about his debut solo album, Honora, his childhood, early musical influences, and more. "If one is willing to feel the pain and suffering of being a human being, you're gonna grow," he says. "I'm grateful for growth, and I'm grateful for humility, and I'm grateful for being a student." You can hear their conversation here.