Ambrose Akinmusire, Mary Halvorson, and Makaya McCraven are at North Sea Jazz Fest in Rotterdam. Tyondai Braxton is in upstate NY. Joachim Cooder is in Italy. Jeremy Denk and friends perform Fauré at 92NY. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson are in Arizona. Chris Thile is in Santa Barbara. Yasmin Williams tours Midwest with St. Paul and the Broken Bones and The Wood Brothers.
The North Sea Jazz Festival is underway this weekend at Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, including performances from Ambrose Akinmusire, Mary Halvorson, and Makaya McCraven.
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire performs from his latest album, honey from a winter stone, with vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, drummer Justin Brown, bassist Reggie Washington, and the North Sea String Quartet on the Madeira stage on Sunday, as part of Akinmusire’s eighth appearance at the North Sea Jazz Festival. honey from a winter stone was nominated for an Edison Jazz Award in the Netherlands last week, and the album track “MYanx.” was named among NPR Music’s Ann Powers’ Favorite Songs of 2025 (So Far).
Guitarist Mary Halvorson and her improvisatory sextet Amaryllis—Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet)—bring music from their latest album, About Ghosts, to the festival’s Missouri stage Saturday night, following a performance at the Theatro Circo in Braga, Portugal, tonight. You can get the album and hear it here.
Drummer Makaya McCraven, joined by trumpeter Marquis Hill, guitarist Matt Gold, and bassist Junius Paul, performs on the festival’s Congo stage on Sunday, following a sold out show at the Auditório de Espinho in Portugal tonight, as part of the Espinho International Music Festival, and a set at the Bilbao BBK Live festival in Spain on Saturday. McCraven’s latest album, In These Times, was released to critical acclaim on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records / XL Recordings in 2022.
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Tyondai Braxton joins Ben Vida and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma for a collaborative trio set rooted in live electronics, synthesis, and sound texture at Tremper Studio in Phoenicia, New York, on Saturday.
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Joachim Cooder performs songs from his 2020 Nonesuch debut album, Over That Road I’m Bound, a reinterpretation of country-music progenitor and banjo player Uncle Dave Macon’s music, to the Instituto Salesiano S. Bernardino for the Chiari Music Festival in Italy on Sunday.
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Pianist Jeremy Denk joins violinists Joshua Bell and Irène Duval, violist Blythe Teh Engstroem, and cellist Steven Isserlis to perform the second of two all-Fauré concerts this week in 92NY’s Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York City on Saturday, as part of the Midsummer Musicfest. The concert can be streamed online here.
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Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue—featuring Justin Robinson and four other string musicians—are in Arizona this weekend in support of Giddens and Robinson’s new album, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, with performances at the Rialto Theatre in Tuscon tonight, and at the Pepsi Amphitheater in Flagstaff on Saturday with special guest Sunny War. You can get the new album and hear it here and watch performance videos of eight tunes from it here.
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Chris Thile performs with the Academy Gala Orchestra and members of Sing! children’s choir, conducted by Daniela Candillari, at the Upper Lawn at the Montecito Club in Santa Barbara, California, tonight, for the Music Note Gala. The program features music by J.S. Bach, Caroline Shaw, and Punch Brothers.
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Yasmin Williams joins St. Paul and the Broken Bones and The Wood Brothers as their special guest for three Midwest shows this weekend: at MGM Northfield Park in Cleveland, Ohio, tonight, Kresge Auditorium at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan, on Saturday, and the Sweetwater Performance Pavilion in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Sunday. You can hear Yasmin Williams’s recent performance of songs from her new album Acadia on NPR’s Mountain Stage here.
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