This long July 4 holiday weekend in the US, Chris Thile and Michael Daves perform at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC as part of a concert series to keep the beloved venue open. The Black Keys hit the European festival circuit with sets in Belgium, Italy, and France. Julia Bullock joins San Francisco Symphony and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Sam Gendel is at Montreal Jazz Fest. Tigran Hamasyan's trio plays festivals in Romania, UK, and France. Brad Mehldau Trio is in Spain and Portugal. Natalie Merchant and National Symphony Orchestra perform at The Kennedy Center in DC. Cécile McLorin Salvant concludes Asia tour in Singapore.
This long July 4 holiday weekend in the United States, Chris Thile and Michael Daves are getting the duo back together to perform at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on Saturday, as part of the Preserve Rockwood Benefit Concert Series. All proceeds support the campaign to keep open the beloved New York institution—site of many unforgettable concerts by Nonesuch artists over the years.
Thile and Daves released a duo album of traditional bluegrass tunes, Sleep with One Eye Open, on Nonesuch in 2011. The duo makes for "a rip-roaring partnership," says the New York Times. "Bluegrass, in their hands, gets roughed up in the best possible way, with skill and fervor, and a touch of abandon." Daves released his double album Orchids and Violence on Nonesuch in 2016, pairing straightforward interpretations of bluegrass tunes with experimental rock versions of the songs. Thile’s latest solo Nonesuch release is 2021’s Laysongs; he and his fellow Punch Brothers' released the Grammy-nominated album Hell on Church Street, a reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues, in 2022.
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The Black Keys, currently touring Europe for the first time in eight years, hit the festival circuit this weekend performing music from their latest album, Dropout Boogie, and more in sets at Festivalpark Werchter in Belgium on Saturday, for the Rock Werchter festival; Monza Park in Villasanta, Italy on Saturday, for I-Days Festival; and Arènes de Nîmes in France on Tuesday, July 4, as part of Festival de Nimes. "The Black Keys have always been a visceral live experience," says Clash in a recap of the band's recent Manchester AO Arena show. "At heart, it’s about two musicians—Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney—tearing it up, letting the sweat, blood, and booze ease out into their riffs."
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Classical singer Julia Bullock, who has just won Germany’s Opus Klassik award for her debut solo album, Walking in the Dark, joins the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, at Davies Symphony Hall, tonight and Saturday, for a program that includes works by George Gershwin, Margaret Bonds, and Reena Esmail. The San Francisco Symphony Chorus joins the orchestra to perform Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
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Sam Gendel is in Canada to perform at Le Studio TD in Montreal tonight as part of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal . He heads next to Japan to tour as part of Festival Fruezinho. On his latest Nonesuch album, COOKUP, Gendel and his friends and collaborators Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson interpret R&B and soul hits originally released between 1992 and 2004 by Ginuwine, 112, Aaliyah, All-4-One, Soul 4 Real, Beyoncé, Joe, Erykah Badu, Mario, SWV, and Boyz II Men.
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Tigran Hamasyan and his trio—bassist Peter Eldh and drummer Gard Nilssen—are also playing festival sets in Europe, with performances at Piața Libertăți in Timisoara, Romania, tonight, as part of JAZZx; Glynde Place in East Sussex, England, on Saturday, as part of Love Supreme Jazz Festival; and La Défense in Nanterre, France, on Sunday, for La Défense Jazz Festival.
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Brad Mehldau Trio—Mehldau, drummer Jeff Ballard, and bassist Larry Grenadier—perform at Can Reon in Tiana, Spain, on Saturday, then head to Portugal to perform at Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon on Sunday and Casa da Música in Porto on Monday. The Trio’s European summer tour includes upcoming shows in Norway, Netherlands, Italy, France, and Switzerland.
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Natalie Merchant is joined by the National Symphony Orchestra to perform music from her new album, Keep Your Courage, and more at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, tonight and Saturday. Last week, Merchant stopped by ABC's Good Morning America to perform two songs from Keep Your Courage, joined by Abena Koomson-Davis of Resistance Revival Chorus, who also performs on the album. You can watch both performances here.
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Cécile McLorin Salvant concludes her tour of Asia this weekend, bringing music from her new album, Mélusine, and more, to Esplanade Recital Studio in Singapore tonight and tomorrow. “Salvant has already far transcended her early status as her generation’s most imaginative and thrilling jazz interpreter,” says SPIN, naming Mélusine one of The Best Albums of 2023 (So Far).
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