journal.nonesuch.com

Randy Newman's New Nonesuch Release to Follow JazzFest Success

On August 5, Nonesuch will release Harps and Angels, Randy Newman's first album of new songs since 1999 and the follow up to his Nonesuch debut, The Randy Newman Songbook: Vol. 1, from 2003.

Music from Randy's songbook could be heard over a number of stages at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival over the past week, with various performers offering their own takes on his poignant piece "Louisiana 1927." Randy performed the song at the close of his own set at the Festival on Thursday, which, the New York Times' Jon Pareles says, included "easy-rolling, ragtimey piano parts carrying lyrics that often drifted toward patter: sometimes political, sometimes personal."

---

The Associated Press writer Stacey Plaisance reports that celebrated pianist Allen Toussaint, whose "Yes We Can Can" was the opening track on the Our New Orleans record on which Randy's "Louisiana 1927" was the closer, "was in the screaming, whistling crowd when Randy Newman took the stage," and smiling all the while.

"He's wonderful," Toussaint told Plaisance. "I wasn't going to miss this."

You'll find the AP's coverage of the Festival at nola.com.

---

Tommy Stevenson, an associate editor at the Tuscaloosa News in Alabama, offers his own insight on the week's events, calling Randy's set perhaps the highlight of the entire Festival till then. Stevenson reports that Randy called New Orleans his "favorite city in the world," imploring from the stage "for the rest of the country to realize how important this city is ... because the people down here realize what is really important in life."

You can read the writer's JazzFest report on stevensonblog.tuscaloosanews.com.

---

Following JazzFest, Randy headed up to St. Louis, Missouri, for a benefit concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall on behalf of the Hall's education initiatives. He spoke with writer Daniel Durcholz for an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in which the two discuss Randy's songwriting technique, his recent acting gig in George Clooney's Leatherheads, and his first foray into the world of YouTube---his video recording of "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country." Randy has also recorded the song for the forthcoming album. You can read the Post-Dispatch interview at stltoday.com and watch the video below:

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Below are just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

The San Francisco Ballet will perform to John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony (2007) each night this weekend in Mark Morris's new piece, Joyride, for the final nights of the Ballet's New Works Festival Program B, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. "If you appreciate ballet that offers dazzlingly sophisticated musicality," says the San Francisco Chronicle, "then you could hardly do better than Mark Morris's Joyride." Tickets: sfballet.org.

The Thüringer Symphoniker, led by Oliver Weder, will pair Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Tromba Lontana for performances in Unterwellenborn, Germany, tonight and Saturday. Both pieces appear on the 1987 Nonesuch recording, The Chairman Dances. More info: boosey.com.

---

Laurie Anderson continues her four-night residency at the Barbican in London through Saturday. Folks in the UK can catch Laurie on Later with Jools Holland tonight at 11:35 PM GMT, on BBC Two.

---

Toumani Diabate will play a special concert in the intimate space of LSO St. Luke's in London, performing songs from his new solo CD, The Mande Variations, as part of the Barbican's Spring 08 Contemporary Events series.

---

Bill Frisell's new quintet, featuring Chris Cheek on sax and clarinet, Larry Grenadier on bass, Ron Miles on cornet, and Rudy Royston on drums, will make its European debut on Sunday in Cheltenham, England's Everyman Theater as part of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Tickets: cheltenhamfestivals.com.

---

Kronos Quartet plays its last US date of the season this Saturday before heading to Europe for the rest of May. The group will perform at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, with special guest Tanya Tagaq, for the LA premiere of their collaboration Nunavut and the world premiere of Derek Charke's Tundra Songs. (The Canadian Press has a profile of Tagaq, a throat singer from Arctic Canada, and Charke, a Nova Scotian composer, at canadianpress.google.com.) Kronos will also give the LA premiere of Tusen Tankar, the Nonesuch Store-exclusive bonus track on its latest release, The Cusp of Magic, and perform Sigur Rós's Flugufrelsarinn. Tickets: laphil.com.

---

After making her way across Australia, k.d. lang returns to the Sydney State Theatre with her Watershed tour tonight and for a just-added second show, on Saturday, before heading to New Zealand next week.

---

The Brad Mehldau Trio will perform two sets tonight at Western Michigan University's Williams Theater in Kalamazoo as part of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival's Jazz Club series. Tickets: thegilmoreiscoming.com.

---

Friends of the Sheldon in St. Louis, Missouri, present Randy Newman at that city's Sheldon Concert Hall Sunday night for a concert to benefit the Hall's education programs, both in schools and at the venue. Tickets: thesheldon.org.

---

Nicholas Payton, fresh off his performance at the New Orleans JazzFest last weekend, headlines the Main Street JazzFest in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on the festival's Main Stage Saturday at 7:30 PM. "Opportunities to see a jazz artist of Payton's caliber in the Middle Tennessee area are few and far between," says the Nashville Scene. All events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule of events: mainstreetjazzfest.com.

---

Punch Brothers' Chris Thile will play a late-night solo set at the Living Room on New York's Lower East Side at 11 PM Sunday night. Tickets: livingroomny.com.

---

Steve Reich's 1994 piece for two marimbas, Nagoya Marimbas, will be performed tonight at the Royal Northern College of Music's Haden Freeman Concert Hall in Manchester, England, by the RNCM Percussion Ensemble's Ian Wright and Paul Patrick. On Satudray, the full, 46-minute version of the composer's Desert Music (1983), for amplified voices and orchestra, will be performed at Fairfield University's Quick Center in Connecticut, by New York's Shen Wei Dance Arts ensemble.

---

Wilco will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, tonight to play the Burton Cummings Theatre (named "one of Winnipeg's Seven Wonders" in a recent Winnipeg Free Press reader survey) and will head back south of the 49th parallel for a sold-out show at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, Montana, Sunday night.

NY Times: Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" a Folk Song for Many Artists, an Anthem for New Orleans

Randy Newman will have a considerable presence at this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest). Not only will he perform there this Thursday at 4 PM, on the Gentilly Stage, but his song "Louisiana 1927" will also find its way through a number of different interpretations by other Jazz Fest performers, reports the New York Times, not least the Neville Brothers, who will close the festival with their set on Sunday. The song, which Randy wrote in 1974 about an early 20th-century flood in the region and its political ramifications, has taken on new meaning since the floods following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and their aftermath.

In the Times article, writer Geoffrey Himes examines the song's rich history, and how, over the years, particularly after 2005, it has become both an anthem (because, as blues singer Marcia Ball, a Louisiana native, tells Himes, it has "'one of those simple, irresistible Randy Newman melodies and lyrics that were so real'") and "also a modern-day folk song that gains new lyrics as singers adapt it to new circumstances."

Randy has performed the song on two Nonesuch albums: his Songbook Vol. 1, in a solo piano version released two years before Katrina, and Our New Orleans, featuring the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra with members of the New York Philharmonic, recorded shortly after the floods, with album proceeds going to benefit Habitat for Humanity's relief efforts in the city.

To read the article, visit nytimes.com. For more on Jazz Fest 2008, visit nojazzfest.com.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Below is information on just some of the many events going on this weekend across the globe featuring Nonesuch artists. Enjoy!

---

Violinist Leila Josefowicz will join the Saint Louis Symphony, led by conductor Marin Alsop, for three performances of John Adams's The Dharma at Big Sur this weekend at Powell Hall in St. Louis. Also tonight, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra led by Raymond Leppard will perform Adams's Violin Concerto at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Spain, featuring violinist Chlöe Hanslip, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI led by Trevor Pinnock will perform the composer's 1990 orchestration of Liszt's The Black Gondola, in Turin, Italy.

Saturday night, the San Francisco Ballet presents the Mark Morris Dance Group's Joyride, featuring Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, as part of the continuing New Works Festival.

Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine gets three playings this weekend: Saturday night at the Saenger Theater in Mobile, Alabama, by Scott Speck and the Mobile Symphony, and Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Indiana, by Jose Valencia and the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra; and Sunday night at Royal Albert Hall, London, by Mark Gooding and the Harrow Young Musicians Philharmonic.

More information: boosey.com.

---

Kronos Quartet plays the last of three performances at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis, tonight: John Cage's Thirty Pieces for String Quartet with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Tickets: mondaviarts.org.

---

Laurie Anderson will bring Homeland to the Moscow International Performing Arts Center in Russia on Saturday. On Sunday night, Laurie will join the weekend-long Symposium on Sound, a gathering of scientists, performers, and artists, at Leiden University in the Netherlands, for a discussion of the event's theme of mutual influence between art and science, especially as it relates to sound. Info: veenfabriek.nl.

---

T Bone Burnett continues his tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at New Orleans' famed Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest. The three are scheduled to take the Acura Stage this afternoon at 3:30 PM. Next, they'll head to Birmingham, Alabama, where they'll play the BJCC Arena Saturday night. Tickets: nojazzfest.com (4/25); bjcc.org (4/26).

---

Bill Frisell closes out his two week residency at New York's Village Vanguard with performances all weekend. Playing with Bill are Chris Cheek on sax, Ron Miles on trumpet, Tony Scherr on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums. Tickets: villagevanguard.com.

---

Satyagraha, Philip Glass's 1980 opera centered around Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa, continues tonight at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The performance is sold out. More information: metoperafamily.org.

---

Richard Goode will perform a free concert in New York City as part of the annual Free for All at Town Hall concert series. See the post in today's Nonesuch Journal for more information.

---

Emmylou Harris takes the stage at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in downtown Nashville tonight for Premiere Evening, an annual fund-raising event to benefit the Center's educational and cultural programming. Tickets: tpac.org.

---

k.d. lang's continues the Australian leg of her Watershed tour at the Entertainment Center in Adelaide Saturday night. Tickets: theaec.net.

---

Brad Mehldau is in Quebec, Canada, tonight for a solo show at the Palais Montcalm. He returns to the States on Saturday for a performance with the trio with whom he recorded the new album Live at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, and a Sunday night show at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theater in Philadelphia. Tickets: palaismontcalm.ca (4/25); hop.dartmouth.edu (4/26); pennpresents.org (4/27).

---

Youssou N'Dour will perform a special benefit concert tonight at New York's intimate venue Joe's Pub as part of a fund-raising effort for the Youssou N'Dour Foundation and his worldwide advocacy efforts. The acoustic set will be modeled on the smaller sets he leads at his club in Dakar. Tickets: joespub.com.

---

Randy Newman will play a solo date tonight at the Riley Center at Mississippi State University's Meridian Campus. Tickets: msurileycenter.com.

---

Nicholas Payton stays close to home for New Orleans' Jazz Fest. He and his quintet will take the stage in the WWOZ Jazz Tent at 4:05 PM on Sunday. Among the other performers at this year's festival are Stevie Wonder and Al Green, as well as Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with T Bone Burnett (see above). Tickets: nojazzfest.com.

---

Steve Reich's Eight Lines will be performed by Ensemble Intercontemporain led by Ludovic Morlot tonight at Cité de la musique, Salle des concerts, in Paris.

Reich's Desert Music, will presented at the University of California, Berkeley, Saturday, as Drumming will be performed by percussionist Colin Currie at the Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland. Currie earned four stars in the Herald (UK) for his performance there earlier this week of Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood that "mesmerised." Also Saturday, the Smith Quartet brings the Triple Quartet to the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building in Oxford, England.

On Sunday, Reich's Cello Counterpoint will be performed at the Purcell Room in London by Endymion and his Vermont Counterpoint can be heard at Ford Hall at Ithaca College, with Melissa Wertheimer on flute.

More information: boosey.com

---

The national tour of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, based on the 2005 Broadway production helmed by John Doyle, began its run at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre early this week. Performances continue there through May 4. Tickets: sweeneytoddtour.com

Randy Newman Plays Macworld

At today's Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs made a number of eagerly awaited and exciting announcements, including the introduction of Randy Newman, who performed his song "In Defense of Our Country" for the crowd of technophiles and Apple-lovers. According to the New York Times, Randy told the group: "I'll always root against corporations, because that's the way I am, but not this one."

To watch Randy perform "In Defense of Our Country" in a slightly more relaxed environment, click here.

Independent of the Mac mania, Walt Disney Pictures has unveiled the first screen shot of Princess Tiana, the title character of its upcoming animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. Randy is writing the music for the film, which takes place in New Orleans' French Quarter and on the Louisiana bayous; it's set for release next year. For the first-look screen shot, visit comingsoon.net.

Happy Birthday to Randy Newman

Nonesuch wishes Randy Newman a very happy birthday. He turns 64 today.

Randy Newman in "The Pixar Story" at SF Film Fest

TheReporter.com out of Northern California reviews the new documentary The Pixar Story, an "informative, inspiring, and wildly entertaining" film about the animation giant that opens the San Francisco International Film Festival tomorrow night. Featured in the documentary is Randy Newman, whose music laid the foundation for some of the studio's greatest successes: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and the Oscar-winning Monsters, Inc. (Randy won for Best Original Song, "If I Didn't Have You").

To read the review, visit thereporter.com.

For more on the film and information on screenings, visit thepixarstory.com.

Jason Schwartzman in Praise of Randy Newman

In this week's Onion, the A.V. Club asks actor Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited) to set his iPod to shuffle and comment on what comes up. When he hits Randy Newman's "Living Without You," Schwartzman says: "This might be one of the most beautiful songs ever written."

The actor reports that after hearing the song for the first time, he immersed himself in Newman's work and developed a great appreciation for it: "What I like about Randy Newman is that, while a lot of people sing their own point of view about something, he sings like a writer, like 'We're reeeed-necks.' And he's a great composer. He's really smart."

For more from Schwartzman, visit avclub.com.

To hear Randy sing his songs of beauty and of rednecks on his Songbook, Vol. 1, click here.

Video: Randy Newman Has "A Few Words"

With the song "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," Randy Newman puts the current state of the union into context, as only he can do. He published the lyrics from the song in a New York Times op-ed piece earlier this year in response to the George Bush's own State of the Union address.

Watch Randy perform "A Few Words" here:

Read the complete lyrics at randynewman.com.

Can Randy Newman's "Burn On" Help Red Sox Rise?

In recapping Boston's 7-1 win over Cleveland in last night's game five of the American League Championship Series, bostonist.com sportswriter Michael Fernia offers a suggestion of music opener for tonight's game in Boston: Randy Newman's "Burn On," about the fire that set Cleveland's Cuyahoga River ablaze in 1969. This follows rumors that the woman the Indians brought out to sing before last night's game in Cleveland was an ex-girlfriend of Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett. A spokesman for the Indians denies having known of the connection.