Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau were featured on PBS NewsHour yesterday, the day they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for their debut duo album, Nearness. The longtime friends, collaborators, and Nonesuch label mates spoke with NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about making music together, or, as the show says, "how a passion for improvisation can make beautiful music." You can watch the interview and a performance of the album track "Old West" from the show here.

Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch Records artists who were nominated for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, announced earlier today by The Recording Academy: Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Rhiannon Giddens, Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil, and John Adams. Together, these artists' Nonesuch releases have garnered a total of six nominations this year. The Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2017, in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS.

Nonesuch labelmates mandolinist/singer Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau played a two-night stand at NYC's Bowery Ballroom at the end of 2015 before going into the studio to record Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau, a mix of covers and original songs due January 27, 2017, on two CDs / LPs. The vinyl edition includes a bonus performance of Fiona Apple's "Fast As You Can." Pre-orders include an instant download of the album track "Scarlet Town," written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. You can watch a live performance of the song here.

Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau embark on a two-month world tour in support of their new album, Nearness. The duo tour starts in the US this week, making stops in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, NYC, and LA, before a four-night run at SFJAZZ with an orchestra performing Mehldau's album Highway Rider. The international leg of the duo tour begins in Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai, then heads to Australia for shows in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and to Europe for dates in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, and the UK.

Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau released their debut duo album, Nearness, on Nonesuch last week to critical acclaim. "Few records released this year better define what jazz sounds like today," exclaims the Wall Street Journal. The review notes the "stellar intuitive interplay between the musicians" and sums up the album as "an impressive work that showcases two active minds smartly updating classics." Redman and Mehldau spoke with writer Michael Hill about the album and their long friendship and history of working together. You can read what they had to say here.

Longtime friends and collaborators Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau's first duo album, Nearness, recorded live during their recent European tour, is out now. "Magic always seems to happen when saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau play together," exclaims Mojo. "They create a special telepathic musical synergy in each other’s company." BBC Music magazine gives the album a perfect five stars, saying: "The pair are so well matched. Both are extraordinary, scintillating improvisers bursting with energy, yet they have great ears for one another." Redman and Mehldau perform in select US cities in September and October, then head to Asia, Australia, and Europe.

Nonesuch releases saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau's Nearness, the longtime friends' and collaborators' first duo album, on September 9, 2016. Nearness, a selection of duets recorded live during their recent European tour, is available to pre-order now with an instant download of the album track “Ornithology." Redman and Mehldau are "among the most potent and influential jazz instrumentalists of their generation," says the Ottawa Citizen, creating "world-class improvising before rapt audiences."

The SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco has announced its 2016–17 concert season and featured among the performers taking the Miner Auditorium stage in the venue's fifth anniversary season are Pat Metheny with his new quartet; Brad Mehldau, revisiting his acclaimed 2010 album Highway Rider with his Trio, Joshua Redman, Mark Guiliana, and a chamber orchestra; and Emmylou Harris, who joins Rosanne Cash and Lucinda Williams in concert. Tickets go on sale to members on Saturday, June 25, and to the general public on Wednesday, July 13.

Today marks the release of Brad Mehldau Trio’s new album, Blues and Ballads, which comprises interpretations of songs by other composers, this time with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title. "Stellar jazz pianist Mehldau again proves that three is the magic number," says MOJO in a four-star review, "resurrecting the trio that has consistently advanced the jazz lexicon in the course of the past 20 years. A spellbinding set whose salient features are subtlety and understatement. Sublime stuff." The Times of London, in its five-star review, says: "Yet another rhapsodic rollercoaster from this master of romantic complexity."

Brad Mehldau, following a tour with the Brad Mehldau Trio for the new album Blues and Ballads, out this Friday, embarks on a trio tour of a different sort: he reunites with drummer Mark Guiliana, with whom he paired up for the album Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, and guitarist John Scofield for a six-night residency at the Blue Note in NYC starting tonight. "The omnivorously eclectic trouble these three get into will be worth the price of admission," exclaims the New Yorker. The trio will tour the UK and Europe in July, including sets at the Love Supreme, Montreux, Vienna, Gent, and North Sea jazz festivals, and stops in France, Italy, Spain, Israel, Turkey, and Germany, and reunite in the US for the Detroit Free Jazz Festival in September.

Kronos Quartet and Brad Mehldau's performances at Koerner Hall in Toronto this week, part of The Royal Conservatory's 21C Music Festival, will stream live at rcmusic.ca/livestream, this Wednesday, May 25, and Thursday, respectively, both at 8 PM ET. Kronos is joined by special guest Tanya Tagaq for the world premiere her new piece written for Kronos' Fifty for the Future project. Mehldau performs his Three Pieces After Bach, of the Guardian exclaimed: "A dense and dazzling recital of Bach’s classics and the compositions and improvisations inspired by them makes this a powerful, thought-provoking gig."

Congratulations to Brad Mehldau, James Farm, and Tigran Hamasyan, who are all winners of ECHO Jazz 2016 Awards. James Farm was named International Ensemble of the Year for City Folk; Tigran Hamasyan was named International Instrumentalist of the Year, Piano, for Mockroot; and Brad Mehldau will be given a Sonderpreis ("special prize") for his box set 10 Years Solo Live. The ECHO Jazz 2016 Awards ceremony will take place in Hamburg on May 26 and will be televised by NDR.