Jazz Articles about Mary Halvorson

About Mary Halvorson

Album Review

Taylor Ho Bynum: The Ambiguity Manifesto

Read "The Ambiguity Manifesto" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 17, 2019

Cornetist, composer, organizer and curator Taylor Ho Bynum marshals his recording The Ambiguity Manifesto into the categories of before and after, as in AM/PM, BC/AD, and maybe more appropriately before AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and after AACM. With the entire breadth of recorded jazz history available, Bynum chose the concepts of the AACM as the tipping point(s) for this recording. This is a natural progression from his apprenticeship with Anthony Braxton and also his work with ...

Album Review

Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette: The Ambiguity Manifesto

Read "The Ambiguity Manifesto" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
September 15, 2019

Taylor Ho Bynum's The Ambiguity Manifesto, with its oxymoronic title, is the third album in what the cornetist-composer calls an “accidental trilogy." Following his Firehouse 12 Records releases Navigation (Possible Abstracts XII & XIII) (2013) and Enter the Plus Tet (2016), Bynum recognized a form--however unconventional--both in the composition and performing of these large ensemble works. With a 9-tette made up of members of his sextet and Plus Tet, Bynum adds Stomu Takeishi on electric bass. Bynum cites ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson / Joe Morris: Traversing Orbits

Read "Traversing Orbits" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
March 29, 2019

Birds of a feather flock together might be the motto of acclaimed guitarist Mary Halvorson as she has made a habit of teaming up with fellow pickers on a series of dates. Prominent among them is The Maid With The Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith (Tzadik Records, 2018) with Bill Frisell, but among others there are also encounters with Miles Okazaki on Paimon: Mary Halvorson Quartet plays Masada Book Two (Tzadik Records, 2017) and her part in Marc ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Code Girl

Read "Code Girl" reviewed by Claudio Bonomi

by Claudio Bonomi
December 26, 2018

Qualcuno ha già inserito Code Girl tra i dischi dell'anno e, davvero, al di là delle classifiche personali, si tratta di un lavoro che si distingue, che interseca jazz e rock in una chiave non scontata e che, alla fine, si fa apprezzare. Ed è l'ennesima conferma del talento della prolifica compositrice e chitarrista Mary Halvorson, già a capo di svariate formazioni e collaboratrice o partner di diversi progetti gravitanti in area Downtown (da Marc Ribot a Tim Berne).

Album Review

Thumbscrew: Theirs

by Mark Corroto
June 27, 2018

The trio Thumbscrew is releasing simultaneously two recordings from a single session, Theirs and Ours. The first is an album of cover songs and the latter originals by the band. While these reductionist tags might describe the music in its fundamental aspects, these two recordings are the product of one intricate process and trio language. The three musicians that form Thumbscrew, guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, also collaborate in various other projects, including ...

Album Review

Thumbscrew: Theirs

Read "Theirs" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 25, 2018

It has been four years since Thumbscrew, the trio of guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, released their self-titled debut (Cuneiform Records, 2014). The trio is simultaneously releasing two albums--their third and fourth--Ours and Theirs on the same label. As the titles indicate, one album consists of original compositions and the other, covers from a very eclectic assortment of artists from Benny Golson to Wayne Shorter and far less familiar names. The latter of the two ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Code Girl

Read "Code Girl" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
April 13, 2018

Those familiar with guitarist Mary Halvorson's numerous projects have become well-acquainted with the idiosyncratic, unorthodox, sometimes cerebral approach she takes to her craft. Halvorson's compositions are consistently thoughtful but rarely predictable and her improvising is similarly distinctive, so expecting the unexpected is par for the course. Even so, the breadth of Halvorson's interests and influences can be startling, as anyone who's heard her work with Marc Ribot's Young Philadelphians on Live in Tokyo (Yellowbird, 2015) can tell you. It only ...