Articles

Mary Halvorson, Arthur Briggs, Theo Hill and More

By Joe Dimino

This week we open with innovative guitarist Mary Halvorson. She brings great insights on her career and this new COVID-19 jazz world. We also listen and interview New York City pianist Theo Hill, who is now in Costa Rica during the global pandemic. Finally, we hear from Roberto Magris in Italy during the quarantine. Playlist Mary Halvorson “My Mind I Find in Time" Code Girl (Firehouse 12 Records) 00:00 Host talks 6:58 New Mayfair Orchestra “Time on my ...

Mary Halvorson / Joe Morris: Traversing Orbits

By John Sharpe

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 ...

Thumbscrew: Theirs

By Mark Corroto

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 ...

Thumbscrew: Theirs

By Karl Ackermann

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 ...

Mary Halvorson: Code Girl

By Troy Dostert

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 ...

Unlimited 31 - Mary Halvorson "Ribbons of Euphoria"

By Luciano Rossetti

Mary Halvorson: Paimon: Book of Angels Volume 32

By Don Phipps

Paimon: Book of Angels Volume 32 offers up the final installment in prolific composer John Zorn's 32-album sojourn (titled Book of Angels). It is an exciting and fitting capstone. From the start, the music dances its way through contrasts of exciting, mysterious, probing, exotic, and shifting musical folk-jazz idioms, improvisations and compositions. The Mary Halvorson Quartet are Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Drew Gress on bass, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Miles Okazaki on guitar. There is ...