Dan Auerbach's Keep It Hid, earns an 85 from Paste, which says that Dan "explores the crossroads of early-‘70s rock and swampy ballads" on the album, while placing "more emphasis on melody and spacious production, bolstering his familiar barn-burning blues with a sense of exploration and comfort." The review concludes: "He’s a gifted songwriter, and his experience behind the microphone lends a melodic anchor to his guitar riffs, which blister and burn but rarely muddle their hooks in waves of amplified skuzz." The Times Herald-Record gives an A grade to this "ethereal, raw, visceral and wondrous" new record, "one of the great hidden emotion albums."

Dan Auerbach's new Nonesuch release, Keep It Hid, scores a 9 out of 10 from Pop Matters. Citing influences from Motown to bluegrass, the review explains: "Auerbach never seems to be straining himself or merely appropriating other, signature sounds just for the sake of doing so. The music he has so obviously, and voraciously, absorbed makes him who he is, pure and simple ... It is not unlike the best Black Keys material, with all the obvious and not-so-obvious influences on the surface, unfolding into something startlingly original."

Orlando "Cachaíto" López, the legendary Cuban bassist, died in a Havana hospital yesterday, after complications from a routine operation. Born in Havana in 1933, Cachaíto came from one of Cuba’s foremost musical dynasties, which included his father, Orestes López and uncle, Israel "Cachao" López, and he was considered by many as the finest bass player in the world. The "heartbeat of the Buena Vista Social Club," bass player Cachaíto was the only musician to have played on every album in the Buena Vista Social Club series.

London's Wigmore Hall has announced the first group of concerts that Brad Mehldau has programmed as artistic director of an annual, two-season jazz series there. Scheduled for the first season, 2009-10, are two solo events, a duo concert with label mate Joshua Redman, a Brad Mehldau Trio concert, and a recital with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, with whom he premieres his Love Songs tomorrow at Carnegie Hall.

Dan Auerbach's solo debut, Keep It Hid, is out tomorrow. To mark the occasion, Nonesuch has launched a new Nonesuch Radio station titled "First Listen," where you can hear all the tracks from the album shuffled and streaming through release date. Dan's hometown paper, the Akron Beacon Journal, says that following "the revelation" that was The Black Keys' Attack & Release, Keep It Hid shows "other sides of Auerbach's abilities, such as how he can smooth out his primal, bluesy wail and still imbue his songs with emotion and passion, and can trade blunt force for pastoral melodies without losing the music's power."

Rokia Traoré, "one of Africa's most sublime artists" (San Francisco Chronicle), takes her two-week US tour to the Midwest ... Laurie Anderson's also in the region with a selection of songs and stories from her various solo shows ... The Black Keys re-conquer New York City ... David Byrne follows his "exhilarating triumph" (The Australian) in Sydney with one in Brisbane ... Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, et al. play PA and Portsmouth, NH ... Fred Hersch has two gigs in San Francisco ... Punch Brothers play a mini Mississippi college tour ... Steve Reich continues as featured artist at Vassar festival ... Allen Toussaint, Elliott Carter are fêted at the Grammys ... Dawn Upshaw continues her tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra ... and more ...

Shortly after Barack Obama was sworn in as President, the Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed offered a list of "rich, wise, inclusive original voices" he might invite to the White House to signal his commitment to the arts. Others have even suggested the appointment of an arts czar. Given all the demands currently weighing on the President, though, Adams explains, in a Newsweek interview, that music appreciation has to start on a much more basic level. "[T]he one and only way to interest people in classical music is to get them to play it as children," Adams asserts. "I think people should just be exposed all the time to great art. That sounds like a really simple, grandiose statement, but I think it's really true."

Rokia Traoré's two-week US tour with music from her latest Nonesuch release, Tchamantché, continues tonight at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. That city's Star Tribune describes Traoré's work as "fearless, sophisticated, genre-bending music" and says her "gorgeous vocals ... express the nuances of intimacy and emotion with the refinement of a calligrapher." The Washington Post describes Rokia's voice as "dramatic and entrancing" but concludes, "The album's real allure is its blend of traditional and contemporary elements ..."

Grammy week is under way, which means not only the culminating awards ceremony, which will be held this Sunday night, but also various special events, including a conversation with and performance by Allen Toussaint tonight at the Grammy Museum, and an invitation-only ceremony honoring Toussaint and Elliott Carter with the Trustees Award Saturday night. Toussaint will also perform on the live broadcast of Sunday's awards ceremony with an eclectic group of fellow New Orleans artists. Nonesuch artists and albums have been nominated for a total of 13 Grammys this year.

Laurie Anderson performs Burning Leaves, a selection of songs and stories from her various solo shows, in Cleveland, Ohio, this Saturday. She is also a featured artist in the new Guggenheim Museum exhibit The Third Mind, on the influence of Asian among American artists. In the House. In the Fire. Stories 1972–2008, a collection of spoken stories and sounds associated with Laurie's performance work, is included in the exhibit, which runs through April 19. In conjunction with the exhibit, Laurie performs two live solo shows, titled Transitory Life: Some Stories, in the museum next month.

Rokia Traoré's recently released album Tchamantché is lauded as the Malian singer/songwriter's "best and most daring work" in a review for NPR's All Things Considered by Banning Eyre. "Traoré's meld of African and rock aesthetics is understated and as comfortable as it is cool," says Eyre. "The world's less-developed societies have produced many singers who seek to balance musical style and cultural perspective, and to address the larger world. Few manage it with the grace and style of Rokia Traoré."

Fred Hersch will perform two shows in San Francisco this weekend: a free solo concert and conversation at the Community Music Center on Friday and a concert at Herbst Theatre with his new Pocket Orchestra Saturday night. He spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about his recent triumph over a number of life-threatening illnesses and his return to the stage. "Hersch, who plays jazz with uncommon fluency, feeling and invention," says the Chronicle, "has recovered, regaining his strength through intense physical therapy and getting back to the affirming business of making music."