Ben Goldberg - Everything Happens to Be

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:50
Size: 133,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:41) 1. What About
(6:14) 2. 21
(4:48) 3. Fred Hampton
(7:04) 4. Everything Happens To Be
(6:23) 5. Cold Weather
(9:53) 6. Chorale Type
(5:51) 7. Tomas Plays the Drums
(5:10) 8. Long Last Moment
(5:32) 9. To-Ron-To
(1:10) 10. Abide With Me

The music of Ben Goldberg seems to come from a place outside of time—or maybe it comes from several times simultaneously. Maybe it's the instruments he chooses; while the clarinet family has been on the comeback trail in jazz for a quarter century, it's a sound that invariably invokes the New Orleans of a century ago. That's especially true when Goldberg picks up the mellow, woody, Albert-system E-flat instrument on "Cold Weather." That tune's sweet melancholy wobbles perilously close to Hoagy Carmichael, but by way of "Pannonica" by Thelonious Monk, another composer who had a soft spot for sentimental old tunes.

If you're interested in a nostalgia trip, you don't choose guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara to be your traveling companions, and the tension they create between the retrogressive and the transgressive gives Everything Happens To Be. a low-key charge. On paper, Goldberg is following in the great tradition of hiring the All-Star rhythm section of the moment. They are certainly that and as the cooperative Thumbscrew, also one of the formidable bands of the last decade. But Everything Happens To Be. isn't a Thumbscrew+horns date.

Goldberg has worked with Halvorson and Fujiwara as The Out Louds, and with Formanek in a variety of settings. Tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin is a long-time Goldberg collaborator who shares the leader's affection for putting new wine in old bottles. His big tenor sound, slippery but warm, hearkens back to players such as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Gene Ammons and fits right in on the almost-vaudevillian bounce of tunes such as "21" and "To-Ron-To." If you've always wanted to hear Halvorson strum four-to-the-bar, Freddie Green-style, cue the latter, which seems to be based loosely on "Sweet Georgia Brown." It ends in a collective, New-Orleanean tangle that resolves into something like a 21st-century updating of the Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian and Georgie Auld. It takes iron control to play this loose.

But then there are knottier compositions such as "Fred Hampton," a lilting, 6/4 tune where Halvorson spins a songful line only to smudge it with a pedal effect, as if to say let's not make this too pretty. Yet beauty is never far away on Everything Happens To Be., though it seldom arrives in conventional fashion. Take "Chorale Type," which starts in church and detours to a middle-school gym where Goldberg and Halvorson circle each other warily like seventh graders at their first dance. The almost 10-minute cut ends in the mosh pit with Goldberg getting his metal on via a stomping bass line on contra-alto clarinet over Fujiwara's slamming 4/4. The exception is another chorale, "Abide With Me" which, inspired by Monk's 1957 septet version, is played straight in a single reverent chorus.

Though this session was recorded at New Haven's Firehouse 12 in 2018, that hymn tune is a perfect way to and a session that feels old and sounds fresh, that is joyful and melancholy. Just like life. By John Chacona
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/everything-happens-to-be-ben-goldberg-bag-production

Personnel: Ben Goldberg: clarinet; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Ellery Eskelin: saxophone; Michael Formanek: bass, acoustic; Tomas Fujiwara: drums.

Everything Happens to Be

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Mary Halvorson Quintet - Bending Bridges

Styles: Jazz, Avant-Garde
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:34
Size: 157,4 MB
Art: Front

( 7:48)  1. Sinks When She Rounds The Bend (No. 22)
( 7:58)  2. Hemorrhaging Smiles (No. 25)
( 8:03)  3. Forgotten Men In Silver (No. 24)
(10:14)  4. Love In Eight Colors (No. 21)
( 7:50)  5. The Periphery Of Scandal (No. 23)
( 4:49)  6. That Old Sound (No. 27)
( 6:52)  7. Sea Cut Like Snow (No. 26)
( 7:08)  8. Deformed Weight Of Hands (No. 28)
( 7:48)  9. All The Clocks (No. 29)

For the sophomore effort from her quintet, guitarist Mary Halvorson reprises the winning formula of Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12, 2010). Again, there is a mix of pieces for the full ensemble and for Halvorson in trio; and, again, the end result defies classification, touching on spidery improv, jazz tradition and avant rock in a cleverly idiosyncratic brew. Only this time out, she is even more successful. Her writing has developed, unveiling appealing tunes enlivened by arrangements which extract the best from the resources at her disposal.

In spite of the presence of illustrious saxophonist Jon Irabagon, Halvorson proves the star soloist, sounding like no one else. Her crisp, single line picking, alternately springy and spiky, remains readily identifiable after just a few notes, notwithstanding her diversity of pitch flexing effects and attacks. Bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith create a synergetic response to the leader's discursive approach. Hébert anchors through a fleet-ingered, muscular tone, while the drummer ably accompanies Halvorson wherever she goes, whether needing rocky energy or nervy clatter. Irabagon and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson appear on five of the nine selections. Neither is flashy. Finlayson's lean statements and fanfares provide a cooling balm while the reedman's trajectory is never straightforward. He sets challenges for himself which he meets with fluent ease, spinning keening Ornette-ish melodies one moment and abrasive distortion the next.

Halvorson's knotty charts, with their countless unpredictable twists and varied backdrops, breed responsive and involved interplay. The pick of the quintet tracks is the opener, "Sinks When She Rounds The Bend." Typical of the relentless switchbacks, the nagging bittersweet theme first gives way to a short triumphal passage from the guitarist, and then a rippling, unaccompanied spot for Hébert, before building to a firestorm of skronk, the fervor dissipating to nothing in an unexpectedly understated finish. The turbulent "Love In Eight Colors" features Irabagon's most compelling statement: he starts with clipped plosive tones (which sound as if they are played backwards) before extending into an undulating legato which disintegrates into a litany of distorted blurts.

Of the trio outings, "Forgotten Men In Silver" is particularly fine. A deceptively simple air emerges from a scratchy bass/drum interlude before being subjected to characteristic deconstruction, while on "That Old Sound," the languor is spiked by an insistent, questioning jangle which sets the mood for the ensuing interaction. But really, each cut repays close attention. How could Bending Bridges be improved? Perhaps only by featuring the full quintet throughout.
By John Sharpe http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41983#.Ui0TTD-wVw8

Personnel: Mary Halvorson: guitar; Jonathan Finlayson: trumpet; Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone; John Hébert: bass; Ches Smith: drums.

Bending Bridges

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Mary Halvorson - Amaryllis

Styles: Guitar Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:56
Size: 87,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:52) 1. Night Shift
(6:41) 2. Anesthesia
(5:55) 3. Amaryllis
(6:47) 4. Side Effect
(6:47) 5. Hoodwink
(5:50) 6. 892 Teeth

Guitarist Mary Halvorson has a formula she just doesn’t always follow it. The first track on this new sextet release begins with a jagged rhythm over which Halvorson solos. Her bandmates (Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, Nick Dunston on bass, Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Jacob Garchik on trombone, and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet) pick up pieces of the rhythm as well as related themes. It is relatively easy to determine which parts are composed and which are improvised. These themes develop and flow around one another in a fashion that has been used by Halvorson in the past, as well as by various avant-rock (and creative jazz) groups. If you are a Halvorson fan, this is all good and not far from what you expected.

But Halvorson’s influences are wide and deep. Her innovations might hide her more conventional proclivities. She clearly appreciates the standards, whether jazz, blues, or otherwise, and this appreciation colors her own works. Subtle nods to more conventional stylings appear throughout this album, even as it leans toward the experimental end of modern jazz. The chimeric nature of Halvorson’s writing is both obvious and yet subtle as she deftly dances between genres.

Amaryllis is one of two companion albums released by Halvorson last month. It features the aforementioned players forming a sextet with Halvorson, with help from the Mivos String Quartet on the second half. The pieces are of uniformly medium length, around 6-7 minutes each.

The title track is a compelling romp with Dunston and Halvorson providing a running (as opposed to walking) pattern over which the horns provide the main melodic structures with Brennan offering up accentuations. The tune moves along at a nice clip, even as Halvorson switches to her signature note-bending. It is hard not to get caught up in the group’s joyful expressiveness.

Side Effect begins with Mivos, and eventually the core group joins in. While there is no shortage of compositional complexity and sophisticated chops (not to mention a killer solo from Dunston), the overall feel is cinematic and slightly retro despite moments of start-stop rhythms.

Hoodwink is something of an outlier, with Mivos again beginning the piece but this time with a less-structured modern classical approach until Halvorson comes in on acoustic, followed by the rest. Mivos’s playing becomes sweeter to match the emotion of Garchik and O’Farrill, while Fujiwara and Dunston gently push the boundaries, serving as a reminder that this is not your grandparent’s jazz.

Amaryllis ends wistfully, bringing its bouncy opening around 180 degrees. 892 Teeth is deliberately paced and more sparsely populated, with Mivos serving mostly in the background, beneath soloists (with kudos to Brennan). But in the last two minutes, the piece goes avant, with an effects-laden lead providing a discordant break before returning to introspection. https://avantmusicnews.com/2022/06/28/amn-reviews-mary-halvorson-amaryllis-2022-nonesuch-records/

Amaryllis

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Mary Halvorson, Bill Frisell - The Maid with the Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:12
Size: 97,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:03) 1. Moonlight in Vermont
(8:12) 2. The Maid With the Flaxen Hair
(3:15) 3. Scarlet Ribbons for Her Hair
(4:33) 4. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
(3:30) 5. Shenandoah
(4:27) 6. The Nearness of You
(3:25) 7. Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
(3:18) 8. Old Folks
(2:56) 9. Misty
(2:28) 10. Walk Don’t Run

Sometimes I love reading scorchers (especially on amazon and youtube) of albums and artists I like a lot. Mary Halvorson, for example, often seems to disappoint people who are confronted with her music without having heard her before. On her new release, The Maid With The Flaxen Hair, a duo album with Bill Frisell, she pays tribute to the music of guitarist Johnny Smith. A listener ranted that this was a perfect example of “the bankruptcy of modern jazz guitar, taking one wonderful song after another, burying the melody in all sorts of extraneous effects“. For him the album was just awful and he wondered what kind of tribute to Johnny Smith this was. Well, one that makes perfect sense, of course.

Compared to Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and Grant Green, Johnny Smith is by far less famous. On the other hand, especially among musicians, Smith, who was also familiar with classical music, is widely considered as one of the greatest guitarists of the cool jazz era of the 1950s and early 1960s - and he has influenced both Halvorson and Frisell. Together, they play ten numbers associated with the guitarist, most of them ballads.

Bill Frisell’s connection to Johnny Smith goes even further back. He studied with him in 1970 at the University of Northern Colorado, where Smith had moved after the death of his wife in order to take care of his daughter. Frisell wasn't impressed by Smith’s lessons, coming down on his playing as “old fuddy duddy corny schmaltzy stuff“. He’s often regretted this statement since then, because he soon discovered the grace in Smith's elaborate and lyrical playing. “I didn't get it at the time. I wasn't hearing the beauty. I’m ashamed of myself and embarrassed to tell you this“, he later said about Smith’s style. One of Frisell’s signature tracks, “Shenandoah“ (from Good Dog, Happy Man), is based on Smith’s version of the traditional song and dedicated to him. Frisell did also copy Smith's arrangement of the folk song "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair“ and it's this arrangement that Halvorson plays note for note here. What is more, she plays it on a guitar designed by Johnny Smith. And what an outstanding version this is. Halvorson’s playing is ultra-precise, she takes the mellowness out of Smith’s version. It’s simple, clean and clear, the melody is crassly put to the fore, so that one has the impression that each note stabs you. This is foiled by Frisell's wobbly, yet elegant accompaniment.

Although the love of the two guitarists of Smith’s music constantly shines through, they make his versions their own as they meander through these well known compositions. As to Halvorson she does this with her hallmark sound created by a volume pedal and a Line 6 delay modeler plus expression pedal, as to Frisell it’s his reverberant, spacious, open style. Another highlight is “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning“, a classic the duo plays with the utmost respect, almost dissecting it. “Walk Don't Run“, a Smith original and the only uptempo track here, closes the album. It’s a joyful, sparkling number, that sounds as if the notes were made of glass. “I'm nowhere close to getting it right, but I'm going to keep on trying and trying“, Frisell says on playing this tune. That’s a bit too coquettish, of course. The Maid With The Flaxen Hair is a virtuoso album that not only every guitarist should listen to. Moreover, it’s a very good introduction to Johnny Smith, no matter what the negative comments say.~Martin Schrayhttps://www.freejazzblog.org/2019/01/mary-halvorson-bill-frisell-maid-with.html

Personnel: Guitar, Arranged By – Mary Halvorson; Guitar, Arranged By, Liner Notes – Bill Frisell

The Maid with the Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith

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Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson - Searching for the Disappeared Hour

Styles: Piano And Guitar Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:26
Size: 138,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:54) 1. Golden Proportion
(6:16) 2. Lulu’s Second Theorem
(5:17) 3. Faceless Smears
(3:16) 4. Four-Point Play
(5:53) 5. Moonbow
(6:58) 6. Torrential
(4:55) 7. Mind out of Time
(3:15) 8. Party Dress
(4:48) 9. Bent Yellow
(6:00) 10. The Disappearing Hour
(6:03) 11. Gates & Passes
(3:46) 12. Blizzard Rings

By now, we are all aware of the notion of “pandemic time” when your normal routine has been disrupted to the point that it is difficult to remember the day of the week much less the time of the day. Two experienced New York-based composer / improvisers, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson, have attempted to capture this phenomenon in 12 duet pieces.

While both are well-known in modern creative jazz circles, their approach on Searching for the Disappeared Hour is more classically oriented, or at least better described as chamber jazz. To that point, each composition includes a series of melodic and harmonic structures that Courvoisier and Halvorson fluidly traverse. There is little repetition or traditional thematic development they say their piece and move on. But along with and between the written aspects is plentiful room for improvisation.

At first blush, the tone is pastoral and quiet, with contrapuntal themes that are colorful, upbeat, and vary from spare to densely arranged. But upon deeper listens, the experimentalism of this duo comes to the fore. Most notably Halvorson’s use of extended techniques and note-bending on the electric dispels any notion that the album is easy listening, as does Courvoisier’s angular and percussive moments.

But perhaps most remarkable is how they have captured the emotional roller coaster of the last 18 months. Even within a piece, the mood can move several times between joyous interludes and darker expressions. Happiness can turn in an instant to gloom or melancholy, and vice versa. Consequently, Searching for the Disappeared Hour works on multiple levels. It can be listened to as a testament to the technical prowess of two musicians. But it is also a strangely moving exploration of the disorientation that we all have felt in recent months. https://avantmusicnews.com/2021/10/16/amn-reviews-sylvie-courvoisier-and-mary-halvorson-searching-for-the-disappeared-hour-2021-pyroclastic-records/

Searching for the Disappeared Hour

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Mary Halvorson Octet - Away with You

Styles: Guitar Jazz, Avant-Garde 
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:01
Size: 128,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:18)  1. Spirit Splitter (No. 54)
(8:04)  2. Away with You (No. 55)
(9:59)  3. The Absolute Almost (No. 52)
(4:41)  4. Sword Barrel (No. 58)
(7:34)  5. Old King Misfit (No. 57)
(5:31)  6. Fog Bank (No. 56)
(5:14)  7. Safety Orange (No. 59)
(8:35)  8. Inky Ribbons (No. 53)

Continuing her streak of outstanding releases, guitarist extraordinaire Mary Halvorson once again shows her determination to build upon her unique style as a composer and bandleader. She's taken her septet from 2013's superb Illusionary Sea and added an eighth member, pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, and the resulting music is typical Halvorson: harmonically complex, emotionally compelling, and full of interesting moments worth savoring. The first thing one notices about Alcorn's presence is the sense of atmosphere she provides. On the third track, "The Absolute Almost," she offers spare, crystalline notes that gradually emerge and then drift away, providing a somber opening to the cut. Then Halvorson herself joins in, with carefully placed notes that emerge in a pensive dialogue with Alcorn to continue the subdued conversation, before a break in which the rest of the band jumps in to take the piece in a dramatically different direction, full of bounce and rhythmic drive. (It's little surprises like these that always make listening to a Halvorson record such an adventure.) Alcorn's role seems to liberate Halvorson's playing, freeing up subtle opportunities for her to contribute to the group as an equal rather than as a dominant voice.

It's also immediately evident how well this group works together as a unit. Drummer Ches Smith and bassist John Hébert have worked as Halvorson's partners for several recordings, to the point that they are an intuitive element of the rhythmic fluidity that is one of her trademarks. Even during the record's more raucous moments, there's never a sense that they're in danger of losing control of the pulse. And the horns are as fabulous as you would expect: with Jonathan Finlayson, Jon Irabagon, Ingrid Laubrock and Jacob Garchik in the lineup, Halvorson has a superlative brass section for her rich compositions, each member equally adept as a soloist or as an ensemble contributor. Perhaps the most engaging aspect of the recording is its strong emotional core. Listening to the opening of the record, "Spirit Splitter," and the jubilant horn interplay that propels the track, it is clear that this is music to be enjoyed, not simply admired or respected. 

Whether we are taken down a path of exultant cacophony or melancholy musings, with Halvorson as our guide it is sure to involve her irresistible melodic sensibility. I'm sure Halvorson's next installment in her impressive catalog will continue to surprise and astonish, but in the meantime she's given us another exceptional record to celebrate. 

~ Troy Dostert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/away-with-you-mary-halvorson-firehouse-12-records-review-by-troy-dostert.php
 

Personnel: Mary Halvorson: guitar; Susan Alcorn: pedal steel guitar; Jonathan Finlayson: trumpet; Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock: tenor saxophone; Jacob Garchik: trombone; John Hébert: bass; Ches Smith: drums.

Away with You

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