The Big Ears Festival kicked off yesterday in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a highly anticipated set by Jeff Parker and his Tortoise bandmates—who released a new single, “Oganesson,” the same day—and a solo set from Ambrose Akinmusire, continues through Sunday with performances by Akinmusire, Parker, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly, Mary Halvorson, and others.

Following his solo set last night, composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire is in conversation with writer Nate Chinen, exploring the creative threads connecting his three most recent albums—honey from a winter stone, Owl Song, and Beauty Is Enough—this morning at the Blue Note Lounge, followed by a performance from honey from a winter stone with improvisational vocalist Kokayi and the Mivos Quartet, who perform on the new album, at the Bijou Theatre tonight.

Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly continue their debut US tour of music from MESTIZX, their debut full-length album as co-composers, arrangers, and musicians, at Regas Square this afternoon.

Jeff Parker continues his Big Ears run in a performance with his ETA IVtet—saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose—featuring their critically acclaimed new album, The Way Out of Easy, at the Bijou Theatre this afternoon. “The Way Out of Easy is a testament to the power of live jazz,” exclaims The Guardian, “a mercurial form that captivates when in the right hands.”

Guitarist Mary Halvorson performs as part of a tribute to Susan Alcorn with Ryan Sawyer, yuniya edi kwon, and Lester St. Louis at The Standard on Sunday. Before heading to Knoxville, Halvorson joins her fellow Amaryllis band member trumpeter Adam Farrill to celebrate the release of his new album at Joe’s Pub in New York City tonight.

This year’s Big Ears also includes music by a number of other artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal, like Bill Frisell, Tigran Hamasyan, Taj Mahal, Jonny Greenwood, Philip Glass, and many others.

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Three Nonesuch Big Ears alum are making great live music elsewhere this weekend:

Kronos Quartet performs in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in New York City tonight. The program includes the works of Sun Ra reimagined by Terry Riley and Sara Miyamoto, a new piece by Norwegian artists Benedicte Maurseth and Kristine Tjøgersen, works by Aleksandra Vrebalov and Viet Cuong, and arrangements of indelible songs by J. Fred Coots and Neil Young. Kronos celebrates Riley’s upcoming 90th birthday with a performance of a number of his works at the University of Pennsylvania’s Zellerbach Theatre in Philadelphia on Sunday. The program includes his Cadenza on the Night Plain and selections from Salome Dances for Peace and Sun Rings. Nonesuch released One Earth, One People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley, a five-disc box set of his work composed for, and performed by Kronos, ten years ago in honor of Riley’s 80th birthday.

Pianist Brad Mehldau is joined by tenor Ian Bostridge to perform Mehldau’s song cycle The Folly of Desire and Schumann’s Dichterliebe at Muziekgebouw’s Great Hall in Amsterdam tonight. You can watch his performance with his trio of bassist Felix Moseholm and drummer Jorge Rossy at last year’s Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival in France on ARTE available until Sunday here.

Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway—mandolinist Dominick Leslie, banjoist Kyle Tuttle, fiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and bassist Shelby Means—continue their month-long tour with Brooks & Dunn with two shows in the Southeast: at Spectrum Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina, tonight and the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. Tuttle and the band are featured in the latest installment of American Currents: State of the Music, the annual exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville showcasing country music and its place in American culture over the past year, which is open through January 2026.