The members of Thumbscrew are nonpareil instrumentalists. Drummer Tomas Fujiwara easily balances ornamentation and propulsion at any speed; double bassist Michael Formanek plays with a woody tone whose bulk belies his ability to invest each note with its own expressive inflection; and guitarist Mary Halvorson employs fluid phrasing and adroit manipulation of delay effects that […]
Tag: Mary Halvorson
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Veteran pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn releases her first album as a bandleader
No one else plays the pedal steel guitar like Susan Alcorn. She combines a command of the instrument’s orchestral range with an improvisational fluency that lets her take the instrument far beyond its usual idiomatic settings. She began playing professionally in Chicago country bars in the mid-1970s, then went on to hone her chops in […]
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Mary Halvorson recruits singer Robert Wyatt to take her Code Girl project to the next level
You don’t get a MacArthur “genius” grant just for thinking big; you get one because your big ideas work extraordinarily well. Mary Halvorson, who was awarded the grant last year, has earned hers by moving from strength to strength. Ever since she began recording in the mid-2000s, she’s projected a strikingly personal voice on the […]
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Thumbscrew helps Anthony Braxton celebrate 75 years by recording some of his lesser-known compositions
Composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and conceptualist Anthony Braxton was born in Chicago on June 4, 1945, and the celebration of his 75th birthday has taken a major hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. At least nine 2020 events have been cancelled so far—the only live performance that hasn’t yet been stricken from the calendar for this year […]
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Brooklyn-based saxophone and drum duo meld composition and improvisation seamlessly
Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey have been married to each other since 2010 and playing together since 2007, working as a duo as well as within larger ensembles, where they’ve collaborated with avant-garde jazz musicians such as Tim Berne and Mary Halvorson. Though the duo initially focused on improvisational music, a 2016 tour […]
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Cellist and former Chicagoan Tomeka Reid celebrates the release of her quartet’s second album
Next time you think you’re busy, look at Tomeka Reid’s schedule. Even though the cellist was already committed to touring Europe with Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, she just assumed the position of Darius Milhaud Distinguished Visiting Professor at Mills College in Oakland, California (even though she’s based in […]
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Photos: The Hyde Park Jazz Festival
The south side’s own world-class jazz fest played host to dozens of shows and more than a hundred musicians.
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Drummer Tomas Fujiwara fuels his writing by recruiting musicians in contrasting pairs
On his latest album, Triple Double, Tomas Fujiwara trusts his strong-voiced collaborators—and trusts himself to hold his own among them.
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Drummer Tom Rainey’s trio with guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock makes improvised music with an uncanny tune-like sensibility
I had listened to Hotel Grief (Intakt) several times before I noticed that leader and drummer Tom Rainey, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock were credited for improvising all five pieces when the recording was made live at New York’s Cornelia Street Café in April 2014. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief that […]
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Seven portraits of the Chicago Jazz Festival
The compelling characters at this year’s Jazz Festival include avant-garde elder Roscoe Mitchell, indefatigable experimenter Mary Halvorson, and defiantly joyful South African survivor Louis Moholo-Moholo.
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Mary Halvorson’s band keeps getting bigger—and better
New York guitarist Mary Halvorson brings her daring but sophisticated octet to Chicago for the first time.
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Jason Moran reimagines the music of Charles Mingus; guitarist Bern Nix dead at 69
The ingenious pianist and composer collaborates with the idiosyncratic singer Georgia Anne Muldrow tonight at Symphony Center; meanwhile, the innovative guitarist who made his mark in Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time band has passed.
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Winter Jazzfest electrifies a chilly New York weekend
Standouts among more than 150 strong groups included Bill McHenry & Andrew Cyrille, Marc Ribot’s Young Philadelphians, and Battle Trance.
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Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad does what the Dead don’t
New recordings by the Hedwig Mollestad Trio bring sophisticated improvisational gambits to hard-rock settings.
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Peter Margasak’s favorite albums of 2015, numbers 20 through 11
Veteran Reader critic Peter Margasak continues counting down his 40 favorite records of the year—this installment includes Mary Halvorson, Vijay Iyer, and Ryley Walker.