The Perfect American, London
No other contemporary opera composer comes close to matching Philip Glass's productivity. When it comes to commissions for new works, he's the hottest property around, and it's a real coup for English National Opera to have a share in The Perfect American – first performed in Madrid in January – following its outstanding production of his Satyagraha in 2007. In fact, The Perfect American, based upon Stefan Jungk's fictionalised account of the last months of Walt Disney's life, is being staged by Phelim McDermott, the director responsible for Satyagraha. His production was also seen at the Teatro Real earlier this year, and some of that cast are repeating their roles at the Coliseum. In particular Christopher Purves is once again the dying Disney, with Janis Kelly as Hazel George, his nurse, companion and confidante.
Coliseum, WC2, Sat & Thu to 28 Jun
AC
Jeff Williams UK Quintet, London
Ohio-born Jeff Williams is the kind of drummer who energises bands without drawing attention to himself. After a long career on the American scene in which he performed with artists as classy as Stan Getz and Joe Lovano, and worked in Dave Liebman's pioneering 70s jazz-rock group Lookout Farm, Williams now splits his time between the US and Britain, and is as likely to be found in a London pub room jamming with students as he is propelling an A-list UK outfit like that of composer Mike Gibbs. He waited four decades to become a leader, but was widely praised for 2011's album Another Time, a cannily updated and very musical homage to Miles Davis's and Ornette Coleman's 60s groups.
The Vortex, N16, Tue
JF
Grant Hart, Galway & Sligo
In Hüsker Dü, Grant Hart supplied the pop, while it was left to the band's frontman, Bob Mould to provide the gravitas. Since that band's disastrous break-up in the late 80s, the two have essentially swapped positions, Mould becoming ever more pop in his ambitions (culminating with Modulate, his disco-rock album of 2002) and Hart edging towards ever more esoteric rock. He still has plenty of tunes, but Hart's solo career has offered up an erratic, infrequent and, at times, downright shoddy selection of recordings. His latest album, The Argument, suggests a new chapter is beginning. An ambitious piece based on the fall of man, and drawing inspiration from Milton's Paradise Lost, it finds him sharing a label with the Arctic Monkeys, and writing high-concept pop that often sounds like a certain David Bowie, his eccentricity and melodicism both present and correct.
The Townhouse, Galway, Sun; McGarrigles, Sligo, Fri; touring to 18 Jun
JR
Olöf Arnalds, on tour
There's an argument that Olöf Arnalds (cousin to the tasteful nu-classical guy Olafur Arnalds) might be playing a dangerous game. A singer-songwriter in the introspective, Nick Drake vein, her third album, Sudden Elevation, finds her abandoning Icelandic for English. Might the change reveal Arnalds to be a purveyor, rather than anything more interesting, of song ordinaire? As it turns out, while most of the reference points here are familiar to the point of being self-evident, there's still plenty to enjoy in the clarity of her voice and the deceptive simplicity of her arrangements. On the new record she reveals an interesting diction and good eye for detail, a valuable commodity in any language.
St John On Bethnal Green Church, E2, Tue; Broadcast, Glasgow, Wed; Takk, Manchester, Thu; Brighton Unitarian Church, Fri
JR
Nicolas Meier Group, on tour
Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier made his mark with a world-jazz sound steeped in Turkish music, coloured by flat-out improv lines, catchy fusion grooves and lyrical rhapsodies. He also found the perfect partner for voyages like these in the impassioned sound of saxophonist and clarinetist Gilad Atzmon. Journey, in 2010, took the trip further, and with this year's From Istanbul To Ceuta With A Smile, Meier imaginatively mingled jazz with oriental and flamenco songs and dance forms in a musical diary of his travels in Turkey and Spain. Atzmon is crucial to this chemistry once again, and the most striking episodes in the current repertoire are the ones that foreground the two of them, such as Memories, for Meier's late cousin, which throbs with Atzmon's emotional power on clarinet.
Beaver's Inn, Appledore, Mon; The Western Hotel, St Ives, Tue; Dempsey's Irish Bar, Cardiff, Wed; Fleece Jazz, Colchester, Fri; touring to 9 Jun
JF
Mudhoney, on tour
A band of great wit and commitment, Mudhoney are for many the definitive grunge act. True enough, they never enjoyed a taste of the riches dropped at the feet of Nirvana or Pearl Jam, their closest cousins, and never enacted the emotional catharsis of the era. But this was still a band of extremity and dynamism, whose punk rock nous and sense of 70s excess remained in perfect alignment. Too smart for drugs, too wise to grab the quick buck, their endurance is a long-running adventure from a time of depressingly short stories.
Concorde 2, Brighton, Tue; O2 ABC, Glasgow, Wed; O2 Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne, Thu; Academy, Manchester, Fri; touring to 10 Jun
JR
