journal.nonesuch.com

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

London Sinfonietta, led by Diego Masson, will perform John Adams's Chamber Symphony tomorrow night at Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore in its second of two performances at the 2008 Singapore Arts Festival. Also on tonight's program: Piazzolla's Tango Seis, Takemitsu's Rain Coming, and Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Info: singaporeartsfest.com.

Also tomorrow night, the Holland Symfonia, led by Henrik Schaefer, performs works from South America, including Adams's orchestrations of Piazzolla's La Mufa, Tango and Todo Buenos Aires. The Symfonia continues its South American program Sunday night with more works by Piazzolla. Info: hollandsymfonia.com.

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The Black Keys' tour of New Zealand and Australia winds down this weekend, jumping from the eastern to western coasts of Australia. Saturday, the band will play at the Manning Bar in Camperdown, Sydney (manningbar.com), then fly to Perth for a show at Metro Fremantle on Sunday, before heading home.

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T Bone Burnett continues to cross the country with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss as part of the Raising Sands tour. This weekend it brings them to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, Colorado. Info: redrocksonline.com.

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Bill Frisell has had to cancel his appearance tonight at the 8 Days in June festival in Detroit, Michigan, due to a family illness. For information on refunds and ticket exchanges, call the Orchestra Hall box office at 313-576-5111.

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Emmylou Harris played the second of two nights yesterday at New York City's The Town Hall and heads out to Long Island tonight for the Opening Night Gala performance the The Planting Fields Arboretum's summer season of concerts in Oyster Bay, New York (fotapresents.org). She'll then perform at the Wolf Trap Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, on Sunday (wolftrap.org).

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The Brad Mehldau Trio joins the festivities for the annual JVC Jazz Festival New York with a performance Sunday night in Carnegie Hall's intimate Zankel Hall. Info: festivalnetwork.com.

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After a rocking performance last night at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, broadcast live on npr.org and now available at npr.org/music, Orchestra Baobab heads up to the Boston area to play the Somerville Theatre tomorrow night. (somervilletheatreonline.com). "There are few summer sounds more breezily soulful than those wafting north from Cuba," says the Boston Herald, "unless they make their way here via a detour through Africa." The Herald calls the band's sound "an infectious mix of high life, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Congolese rumba that made it legendary in West Africa."

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Tonight, Nicholas Payton joins drummer Roy Hanes and fellow Birds of a Feather participants Donald Harrison on sax, Christian McBride on bass, and Dave Kikoski on piano, paying tribute to John Coltrane, for the finale concert in the Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Boise, Idaho. The concert will take place in the Morrison Center at Boise State University. Info: boiseevents.com.

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Punch Brothers perform at the Sheridan Opera House for the closing-day events of the 35th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, on Sunday. Tickets and info: bluegrass.com/telluride.

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This weekend, the Cincinnati Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati will conclude its weeklong Music 08 festival, showcasing new works and masterworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Frederic Rzewski and Steve Reich are guest composers at the event, leading master classes today and tomorrow. The festival's culminating events include an all-Reich concert tomorrow night in the school's Corbett Auditorium, featuring Cello Counterpoint and Music for 18 Musicians, and a Sunday afternoon performance of Double Sextet by eighth blackbird, which held a master class yesterday. Info and tickets: ccm.uc.edu.

Reich's New York Counterpoint will be on the program tonight in the London Sinfonietta's first of two performances for the Singapore Arts Festival at Esplanade Concert Hall, in which the music will be accompanied by original visuals by video art collective Flat-e. Info: singaporeartsfest.com.

Also tonight, pianist Stephen Drury joins performers from the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice for Reich's Sextet at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston. Info: sicpp.org.

Guardian Names 1,000 Must-Hear Albums (Part 2: N-Z)

The Guardian has revealed the last batch of albums on its list of the 1,000 all-time must-hears. Earlier this week, we brought you Nonesuch artists A through M on the list. Here are N through Z, along with the Guardian's take on each:

• Orchestra Baobab: Specialist in All Styles (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 2002) "Until the arrival of Youssou N'Dour and his frantic mbalax style in the 80s, Orchestra Baobab dominated the Dakar music scene with their fine harmonies and blend of Latin and African styles. Invited to reform after a break of 16 years, they sounded as fresh and engaging as ever—and this time around, the quality of their recordings was vastly improved."

• Astor Piazzolla: Tango Zero Hour (1986, r. 1998) "It's impossible to summarise up the career and influence of the great Argentine nuevo tango composer and bandoneon-player. However, this Kip Hanrahan–produced studio album caught Piazzolla and his New Tango Quintet at the height of their powers."

• Radio Tarifa: Rumba Argelina (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 1993, r. 1997) "For more than a decade, Radio Tarifa were the quintessential world music band, mixing Moorish and African sounds and rhythms with catchy tunes. Singer Benjamin Escoriza adds a gritty charisma to the cleverly crafted studio concoctions of Vincent Molino and Fain S Duenas."

• Oumou Sangare: Moussolou (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 1991, r. 1999) "One of the finest female singers in Mali, Oumou Sangare is a national celebrity both for her songs and for the messages behind them. On this early recording, she was backed by a small band dominated by guitar, kamelngoni and a mournful violin that matches her fine, thoughtful songs of advice to women."

• SF Jazz Collective: SF Jazz Collective (2005) "Under Joshua Redman's leadership, the SFJC pioneered a new approach to jazz repertoire that complements their better-funded counterparts in the 'straight' world. This is the first of a series of beautifully recorded live concerts that uses Ornette Coleman's compositions as a springboard to new work."

• Taraf de Haïdouks: Band of Gypsies (2001) "International success for these gifted Romanians took their government by surprise. This generous and energetic live album boosts the collective's family core with guests including Kocani Orchestra and Bulgarian clarinetist Filip Simeonov, resulting in exultant tracks such as 'Bride in a Red Dress' and the breakneck 'Carolina.'"

• Rokia Traoré: Bowmboï (2004) "The most bravely experimental female performer in Africa, Rokia Traoré started out matching her cool, clear vocals against her own acoustic guitar and traditional instruments such as the ngoni. Here she is joined by the strings of the Kronos Quartet."

• Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) "By their fourth album, Jeff Tweedy's once stoutly country-rock group had spread their wings. Frazzled Krautrock, shortwave static and Tweedy's lovelorn melodicism formed the basis of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, to stunning effect."

Also listed were Youssou N'Dour (Immigres), Scritti Politti (Songs to Remember), and Caetano Veloso (Definitive Collection [UK]).

Check out the complete list at music.guardian.co.uk.