# Mary Halvorson

Mary Halvorson (born October 16, 1980) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and guitarist from Brookline, Massachusetts.
Among her many collaborations, she has: led a trio with John Hébert [de] and Ches Smith, and a quintet with the addition of Jon Irabagon and Jonathan Finlayson; recorded duo albums with violist Jessica Pavone; and recorded several albums with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara [de] under the band name Thumbscrew.
In 2017, 2018, and 2019 Halvorson won Best Guitar in DownBeat's International Critics Poll. In 2019, she was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant for music.
Halvorson is on faculty at the School of Jazz (The New School).

## Early life and career

Halvorson began her musical education on violin but was enthralled with the idea of playing guitar after discovering Jimi Hendrix. She first picked up electric guitar at the age of 11 in seventh grade. Her first guitar teacher was Issi Rozen.
She initially enrolled in Wesleyan University to study biology, but dropped her prospective major after sitting in on one of saxophonist Anthony Braxton's music classes. She quickly connected with him and he heavily encouraged her to find her own expression on guitar.
Halvorson's 2008 recording Dragon's Head was as the leader of a trio containing bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith. Her later album, Saturn Sings, added saxophonist Jon Irabagon and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson. In 2012, she played with trumpeter Peter Evans and drummer Weasel Walter on the trio album Mechanical Malfunction.
In 2013, the trio of Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara [de] recorded the first of several albums as the band Thumbscrew. NPR called Halvorson's 2015 solo album Meltframe "category-exploding", and its 2015 Jazz Critics Poll named the record 7th-best of the year.
Her album Away With You features pedal steel player Susan Alcorn (later described in Something Else! as "the Mary Halvorson of the pedal steel guitar"), cellist Tomeka Reid and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. The album Code Girl was Halvorson's first attempt at writing lyrics for her original works, which are sung by Amirtha Kidambi and inspired by the songwriting of Robert Wyatt and Elliot Smith. The album also features drummer Tomas Fujiwara, bassist Michael Formanek and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. The album received an 8.1 rating from a Pitchfork review, explaining, "The pleasure of this kind of text comes from the way it invites active listening as a means of interpretation." Code Girl is named after an offhand remark by Braxton, who used the phrase in conversation while on a European tour with Halvorson. Later, she settled on the phrase as an album title, because "at that point I'd written a lot of the lyrics... and they seemed a little bit coded and strange." Halvorson has also worked with John Dieterich of Deerhoof. Halvorson had previously performed some of her lyrics in collaboration with violinist Jessica Pavone, with whom she also recorded duo albums. As of 2018, Halvorson was an instructor at The New School's College of Performing Arts.
Halvorson won Best Guitar in DownBeat's International Critics Poll between 2017 and 2019. In 2019, she was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant for music.

## Musical style

Although Halvorson is often categorized as a jazz guitarist, her music includes elements of many other genres, such as flamenco, rock, noise, and psychedelia. In speaking with PostGenre, Halvorson noted that she's "never really felt like I had to stick with a particular style or idea... From [Anthony Braxton], I learned that it was normal to take such a broad approach. You would respect traditions but at the same time, you would push the boundaries of those traditions. You would break the traditions apart and do whatever you wanted. That approach has always come naturally to me...". In a 2018 interview with Jazz Times, Halvorson described the guitar as a "neutral vessel", saying “The cool thing about the guitar is it’s not associated as much with a particular genre... it could be classical, it could be rock and roll, it could be jazz, it could be folk.”.
In 2012, Troy Collins of All About Jazz called Halvorson "the most impressive guitarist of her generation", and wrote, "The future of jazz guitar starts here." Jon Garelick of The Phoenix identified Halvorson's search for her own sound as a key component of her success as a musician and composer.

## Discography

|Complete Sessionography: Released and unreleased recorded media + all known play dates at

### As leader

List of albums as leader :
| Year recorded | Title | Label | Notes |
| 2008 | Dragon's Head | Firehouse 12 | Trio, with John Hébert (bass), Ches Smith (drums) |
| 2010 | Saturn Sings | Firehouse 12 | Quintet with Jonathan Finlayson, Jon Irabagon, John Hébert, and Ches Smith. |
| 2010 | Bending Bridges | Firehouse 12 | Quintet with Jonathan Finlayson, Jon Irabagon, John Hébert, and Ches Smith. |
| 2013 | Illusionary Sea | Firehouse 12 | Septet with Jonathan Finlayson, Jon Irabagon, Ingrid Laubrock, Jacob Garchik, John Hébert, and Ches Smith. |
| 2013 | Ghost Loop | EMI | Trio with John Hébert, and Ches Smith. |
| 2014 | Reverse Blue | Relative Pitch | Quartet with Chris Speed, Eivind Opsvik, Tomas Fujiwara |
| 2015 | Meltframe | Firehouse 12 | Solo covers album. |
| 2016 | Away With You | Firehouse 12 | Octet with Jonathan Finlayson, Jon Irabagon, Ingrid Laubrock, Jacob Garchik, Susan Alcorn, John Hébert, and Ches Smith. |
| 2018 | Code Girl | Firehouse 12 | Most tracks quintet, with Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Michael Formanek (bass), Tomas Fujiwara [de] (drums), Amirtha Kidambi (vocals) |
| 2020 | Code Girl: Artlessly Falling | Firehouse 12 | Most tracks sextet, with Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Michael Formanek (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Amirtha Kidambi (vocals), Maria Grand (tenor sax, vocals); plus Robert Wyatt (vocals) |
| 2022 | Belladonna | Nonesuch | Quintet with Halvorson and the Mivos Quartet |
| 2022 | Amaryllis | Nonesuch | Sextet with Patricia Brennan, Nick Dunston, Thomas Fujiwara, Jacob Garchik, and Adam O'Farrill; augmented by the Mivos Quartet on three tracks |
| 2024 | Cloudward | Nonesuch | Sextet with Patricia Brennan, Nick Dunston, Thomas Fujiwara, Jacob Garchik, and Adam O'Farrill |

### Selected collaborations

List of selected collaborations :
| Year | Artist | Title | Label |
| 2004 | Trevor Dunn's trio-convulsant | Sister Phantom Owl Fish | Ipecac |
| 2005 | Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone | Prairies | Lucky Kitchen |
| 2005 | People (Mary Halvorson, Kevin Shea) | People | I & Ear |
| 2007 | Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone | On and Off | Skirl |
| 2007 | People | Misbegotten Man | I & Ear |
| 2008 | Mary Halvorson & Weasel Walter | Opulence | ugEXPLODE |
| 2008 | Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone, Devin Hoff, Ches Smith | Calling All Portraits | Skycap |
| 2009 | Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone | Thin Air | Thirsty Ear |
| 2009 | Mary Halvorson, Reuben Radding, Nate Wooley [de] | Crackleknob | Hatology |
| 2009 | Weasel Walter / Mary Halvorson / Peter Evans | Mystery Meat | ugEXPLODE |
| 2009 | The Thirteenth Assembly (Bynum, Pavone, Fujiwara) | (un)sentimental | Important Records |
| 2010 | Tom Rainey Trio | Pool School | Clean Feed |
| 2010 | Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up | Actionspeak | 482 Music |
| 2011 | Weasel Walter / Mary Halvorson / Peter Evans | Electric Fruit | Thirsty Ear |
| 2011 | Mary Halvorson & Weasel Walter | Ominous Telepathic Mayhem | ugEXPLODE |
| 2011 | Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone | Departure of Reason | Thirsty Ear |
| 2011 | The Thirteenth Assembly | Station Direct | Important Records |
| 2012 | Tom Rainey Trio | Camino Cielo Echo | Intakt |
| 2012 | Weasel Walter / Mary Halvorson / Peter Evans | Mechanical Malfunction | Thirsty Ear |
| 2012 | AYCH (Jim Hobbs, Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum) | As the Crow Flies | Relative Pitch |
| 2012 | Ergo | If Not Inertia | Cuneiform |
| 2012 | Living by Lanterns | New Myth/Old Science | Cuneiform |
| 2013 | Secret Keeper (Stephan Crump & Mary Halvorson) | Super Eight | Intakt |
| 2013 | Kirk Knuffke, Mary Halvorson & Matt Wilson | Sifter | Relative Pitch |
| 2013 | Curtis Hasselbring | Number Stations | Cuneiform |
| 2013 | Joy Mega | Forever Is Something Inside You | New Atlantis Records |
| 2013 | Xiu Xiu | Nina | Graveface Records |
| 2014 | Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek, Tomas Fujiwara | Thumbscrew | Cuneiform |
| 2014 | People | 3xaWoman: The Misplaced Files | Telegraph Harp |
| 2014 | Illegal Crowns (Halvorson, Fujiwara, Delbecq, Bynum) | Illegal Crowns | RogueArt |
| 2015 | Secret Keeper | Emerge | Intakt |
| 2015 | Tom Rainey Trio | Hotel Grief | Intakt |
| 2015 | Tomeka Reid Quartet | Tomeka Reid Quartet | Thirsty Ear |
| 2015 | Marc Ribot | The Young Philadelphians: Live in Tokyo | Yellowbird |
| 2016 | Tomas Fujiwara, Ben Goldberg, Mary Halvorson | The Out Louds | Relative Pitch |
| 2016 | Thumbscrew | Convallaria | Cuneiform |
| 2016 | Mary Halvorson & Noël Akchoté | Mary Halvorson and Noël Akchoté | Noël Akchoté |
| 2017 | Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson | Crop Circles | Relative Pitch |
| 2017 | Elliott Sharp with Marc Ribot, Mary Halvorson | Err Guitar | Intakt |
| 2017 | Mary Halvorson Quartet plays John Zorn's Masada Book Two | Book of Angels, Vol. 32 - Paimon | Tzadik |
| 2018 | Thumbscrew | Theirs | Cuneiform |
| 2018 | Thumbscrew | Ours | Cuneiform |
| 2018 | Mary Halvorson & Bill Frisell | The Maid With the Flaxen Hair | Tzadik |
| 2018 | Robbie Lee & Mary Halvorson | Seed Triangular | New Amsterdam |
| 2018 | Ingrid Laubrock | Contemporary Chaos Practices | Intakt |
| 2018 | Joe Morris & Mary Halvorson | Traversing Orbits | RogueArt |
| 2018 | Various Artists | A Day in the Life: Impressions of Pepper | Impulse Records |
| 2018 | Tomeka Reid Quartet | Old New | Cuneiform |
| 2019 | Tom Rainey Trio | Combobulated | Intakt |
| 2019 | Mary Halvorson / John Dieterich | a tangle of stars | New Amsterdam |
| 2019 | Michael Formanek Very Practical Trio | Even Better | Intakt |
| 2020 | Thumbscrew | The Anthony Braxton Project | Cuneiform |
| 2021 | Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson | Searching for the Disappeared Hour | Pyroclastic |
| 2021 | Thumbscrew | Never Is Enough | Cuneiform |
| 2022 | Thumbscrew | Multicolored Midnight | Cuneiform |
| 2025 | John Zorn | The Bagatelles Vol. 1 - Mary Halvorson Quartet | Tzadik |