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Jazz Articles about Mary Halvorson
Myra Melford's Fire And Water Quintet: Hear The Light Singing
by John Sharpe
Pianist Myra Melford's blue chip Fire And Water quintet assuredly sidesteps second album syndrome. Hear The Light Singing stands very much the equal of the band's superlative eponymous debut. The only change is that Lesley Mok takes Susie Ibarra's place behind the trapset, otherwise the triumvirate completing the starry squad remains Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, Tomeka Reid on cello and Mary Halvorson on guitar. In the liners Melford explains that the five pieces titled Insertions" here were ...
read moreMary Halvorson: Cloudward
by Doug Collette
The title of guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's Cloudward alludes to the sense of optimism she has stated she felt when writing the bulk of the material in fall of 2022. And while this palpable sense of faith in the future is in marked contrast to the tangible air of eerie foreboding that surfaced so often on this LP's predecessors, the presence of largely the same personnel lineup--the Amaryllis Sextet-- provides a stable link of continuity. The reappearance of prior collaborators recording ...
read moreMary Halvorson: Cloudward
by Mike Jurkovic
Guitarist, composer & raconteur Mary Halvorson could very comfortably (and rightfully) wear the sobriquet of The Charles Mingus of Guitar" if she wanted to. But even that open-ended comparison would limit her as she outdoes herself again on Cloudward. Though it must surely be getting harder to top herself given the string of releases--the deliberately articulate schizophrenia Amaryllis and Belladonna (Nonesuch, 2022), the unbridled trio synergy Multicolored Midnight (Cunneiform, 2018), the crackling mad invention propelling 2018's Code Girl (Firehouse 12 ...
read moreIllegal Crowns: Unclosing
by John Sharpe
When a band of four leaders in their own right still exists over ten years after its inception, then something worthwhile is afoot. Illegal Crowns comprises the familiar American triumvirate of guitarist Mary Halvorson, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, who first crossed paths with French pianist Benoît Delbecq in 2012. Their third album Unclosing follows on from an eponymous debut (Rogue Art 2016) and the sophomore No-Nosed Puppet (Rogue Art , 2020). An accomplished blend of accessibility ...
read moreTrevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant avec folie à quatre: Séances
by Vic Albani
Nel peculiare universo del jazz obliquo" contemporaneo il bassista Trevor Dunn, ben conosciuto a chi approda spesso sulle spiagge del signor John Zorn, esiste da sempre un ben conosciuto e mai ben definito mondo di ricerca complessa e collegata ai mille meandri della mente umana. Racconta dunque Dunn che nella Francia del XVIII secolo esisteva una setta di cristiani, considerata eretica dai compagni servi di Dio, chiamata i Convulsionari di Saint-Médard. Dopo la morte di un amato diacono, ...
read moreTrevor Dunn: Séances
by Mike Jurkovic
Holy bank shot Batman! Is Seances, (bassist Trevor Dunn's dissertation on the how humans tend to forget and repeat, ever a radical and electrifying take on things. Anything and everything goes the distance for Dunn and the combined mad genius of his Trio-Covulsant cronies, wickedly cool guitarist Mary Halvorson and the chaotic meter of drummer Ches Smith. It has been eighteen turbulent years since this threesome last convened for the opaquely conversant Sister Phantom Owl Fish (Ipecac, 2004) ...
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