[nonesuchrecords]

Fifteen, the first album from the collective trio of saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill, pianist Vijay Iyer, and drummer Dafnis Prieto, is due August 21 on Nonesuch Records; it is also the label debut for all three musicians. You can pre-order it here.

The record takes its name from the number of years the trio has been performing together—first at a series of benefits for NYC's Jazz Gallery, and then around the US and internationally. It comprises three compositions by Threadgill and Iyer and two by Prieto. The album track “I Wanted a Map,” written by Iyer, is available today, along with a video made during the recording session at Oktaven Audio. 

Threadgill, Iyer, and Prieto return to the Jazz Gallery to perform for two nights this Friday and Saturday.

[nonesuchrecords]

Knicks in five—congratulations, New York!

[nonesuchrecords]

Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson’s album Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings, is out now on Nonesuch. 

The album features four new compositions by each musician plus one collaboration. The duo, long admirers of each other’s musicianship, began playing together periodically back in 2009. They rehearsed the music on Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings in January 2025, just before performing it at the NYC club The Stone; they recorded the album the next day at Sear Sound. 

“I think it’s partly a shared aesthetic and an ease of communication. I feel comfortable to try whatever,” Halvorson says. Akinmusire concurs, “I think it’s rare to find an improviser that all goes and nothing has to go at all. It’s rare to feel like you don’t have to do anything and you can do anything. And that’s what I love about playing with Mary.”

[nonesuchrecords]

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet—Jay Bellerose, Anna Butterss, and Josh Johnson—has made Paste's list of The 50 Best Albums of 2026 So Far with Happy Today. "This is Jeff Parker and the ETA IVtet’s sound exploding outward and upward," writes Paste's Mariam Abdel-Razek. "Parker’s feat is not just one of musicianship ... but of making form and sound malleable." Read more here.

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 10 years ago today: American Tunes, the final recording from legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, was released on Nonesuch. Produced by Joe Henry, it features both solo piano recordings and others made with musicians like Jay Bellerose, Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, Charles Lloyd, David Piltch, and special guests Rhiannon Giddens and Van Dyke Parks. There are works by Toussaint, Professor Longhair, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Paul Simon, and others. The Los Angeles Times calls it "a rich pianistic tour de force." The Times of London says: "Gorgeous ... Swan songs don't get any better." You can hear it here.

[nonesuchrecords]

Robert Plant with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian announce Up the Sharp End, September 18–October 15, a US tour in celebration of their album Saving Grace. The band, which completed two sold-out US legs last fall and this spring, performs in the Midwest and West, with stops in Saint Louis, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Chicago, among others, with special guest Rosie Flores. Artist presales begin Wednesday, June 10, at 10am local time via robertplant.com; general sales begin Friday. 

[nonesuchrecords]

Tortoise kicks off a North American summer tour at Knockdown Center in NYC on June 25, in support of their new album, Touch, with stops in DC, Boston, LA, and more. Tickets are on sale now here.

[nonesuchrecords]

Malian balafon player Neba Solo and donso n’goni player Benego Diakité perform "Ba Ngolo," from their album A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking, in a new video shot in the Bamako garden where the basic tracks for the project were recorded. You can get the album and hear it here.

[nonesuchrecords]

Happy birthday, Laurie Anderson!

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 10 years ago today: Brad Mehldau Trio’s Blues and Ballads was released. On the album the trio—Larry Grenadier, bass; Jeff Ballard, drums—interprets songs by other composers with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title, including works by Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Lennon & McCartney, and Jon Brion. "A spellbinding set ... sublime stuff," exclaims Mojo. The Times of London concurs, calling it "sublimely satisfying." "Beautiful," says the New York Times.

[nonesuchrecords]

Cécile McLorin Salvant has released “Left Over,” a self-penned song from her upcoming debut orchestral album, With Every Breath I Take, on which she, Metropole Orkest, and conductor Jules Buckley perform timeless songs newly arranged by Darcy James Argue. Salvant plays piano on “Left Over,” which looks at two faces of unrequited love: hopeful fantasy and aching loss.

[nonesuchrecords]

Congratulations to composers Steve Reich, Jonny Greenwood, and Sarah Kirkland Snider on being shortlisted for Germany's Opus Klassik Awards: Reich's Jacob's Ladder / Traveler's Prayer for World Premiere Recording of the Year; Greenwood's score to the Paul Thomas Anderson film One Battle After Another for Film Music/Score of the Year; and Snider's album Forward into Light for New Classic/Neoclassic. Read more here.

[nonesuchrecords]

Congratulations to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Mary Halvorson, all of whom have won JJA Jazz Awards. Salvant has won Female Vocalist of the Year and, with pianist Sullivan Fortner, Duo of the Year; Akinmusire Trumpeter of the Year; and Halvorson Guitarist of the Year. All three have new albums out this month: Salvant's orchestral album With Every Breath I Take on June 26 and Akinmusire and Halvorson's duo album Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings on June 12.

[nonesuchrecords]

Happy Pride Month! We're celebrating with our newly updated playlist of recent and classic Nonesuch recordings by LGBTQ+ composers, performers, and allies, including k.d. lang, Magnetic Fields, Caroline Shaw, Ringdown, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Jeremy Denk, Illinoise, and more. You can hear it here.

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 30 years ago today: Kronos Quartet's Howl, U.S.A. was released. Kronos incorporates the recorded voices of Allen Ginsberg and Ben Johnston and samples of J. Edgar Hoover and I.F. Stone on an album the Chicago Sun-Times says is “adventurous and provocative and dances on the edge of a whole new form.” You can hear the album here.

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 15 years ago today: John Adams's album Son of Chamber Symphony / String Quartet was released on Nonesuch. The former piece, deemed "exhilarating" by the Financial Times, is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble conducted by the composer. The latter, which the Philadelphia Inquirer calls "a knockout," is performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the ensemble for which the piece was written. You can hear the album here.

[nonesuchrecords]

Guitarist/bandleader Jeff Parker has released the Happy Today album-length concert film. It was captured by director Charlie Weinmann at the 2025 performance at LA’s Lodge Room that became Happy Today, the acclaimed third album from Parker’s long-running ETA IVtet—drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson. You can get the album here.