Mary Halvorson In November

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Fresh off a successful European duo tour with Jessica Pavone that ended earlier in the month, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson is only playing a few gigs in November with Crackleknob, Ellery Eskelin and Lisa Mezzacappa.

Next month things heat up again when she will play two gigs with her quintet, record the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records), and head back to Europe for a week-long tour with her longstanding trio featuring John Hébert and Ches Smith.

Crackleknob
11/15 :: Douglass Street Music Collective (Brooklyn, NY)

Ellery Eskelin
11/21 :: Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)

Lisa Mezzacappa
11/22 :: Zebulon (Brooklyn, NY)

Firehouse 12 To Present The Mary Halvorson Quintet December 4th

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

On Friday, December 4th, New Haven’s Firehouse 12 will present acclaimed Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and her newest ensemble, the Mary Halvorson Quintet. The group, which adds two horns to the longstanding trio that recorded Ms. Halvorson’s highly regarded 2008 debut, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records), will feature Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), John Hébert (bass) and Ches Smith (drums). This will be the band’s final performance before going into the studio a week later to record all new material for its forthcoming 2010 release on Firehouse 12 Records.

“Mary Halvorson is the freshest, busiest, most critically acclaimed guitar-slinger out of downtown Manhattan/Brooklyn right now,” declared eminent jazz critic/author Howard Mandel on his blog, Jazz Beyond Jazz. Critics have also called her “a new voice on the instrument” (Philip McNally, Cadence), “probably the most original jazz guitarist to emerge this decade” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader) and “the most impressive guitarist of her generation” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com). “She plays guitar in a way that fractures conventions,” added Steve Dollar in the New York Sun, “restlessly inventing her own paradigms.”

An active member of the diverse New York music scene since 2002, Ms. Halvorson has toured the globe with groups spanning a wide variety of genres. In addition to her trio and quintet, she co-leads a genre-defiant duo with violist Jessica Pavone, the avant-rock trio People and the improvising collective The Thirteenth Assembly. She is also a member of several of iconic saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton’s ensembles, as well as groups led by Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Trevor Dunn, Myra Melford, Tom Rainey and Marc Ribot among others. Her discography features nearly 25 releases on more than 15 labels, including her first effort as a bandleader, Dragon’s Head, which the New York Times‘ Nate Chinen called “one of the standout jazz albums of 2008.” Learn more at http://maryhalvorson.com

2009 Fall Jazz Series Schedule:

09/18 :: Brandon Ross & Blazing Beauty
09/25 :: Matt Wilson Quartet
10/02 :: Mauger: Rudresh Mahanthappa/Mark Dresser/Gerry Hemingway
10/09 :: Steve Lehman Trio
10/16 :: Gretchen Parlato Band
10/23 :: Whirrr! The Music of Jimmy Giuffre
10/30 :: Taylor Eigsti Trio
11/06 :: ODE: Larry Ochs/Trevor Dunn/Lisle Ellis/Michael Sarin
11/13 :: The Peter Evans Quartet
11/20 :: Darius Jones Trio
12/04 :: Mary Halvorson Quintet
12/11 :: Amy Cervini Quartet
12/18 :: Daniel Levin Trio

Tickets and more information available at:
http://firehouse12.com/performance_space_calendar.asp

Mary Halvorson + Jessica Pavone’s European Tour Begins Sunday

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Guitarist Mary Halvorson and violist Jessica Pavone will kick-off their latest European tour on Sunday, October 25th in Brussels, Belgium.

The duo will perform seven dates in Belgium and Italy, with Ms. Halvorson taking a quick break on the 30th to perform with the Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio in Frankfurt, Germany.

Here’s the itinerary:

10/25 :: Studio Odeon (Brussels, Belgium)
10/26 :: Cladestino (Faenza, Italy)
10/27 :: Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome, Italy)
10/29 :: Voruuit (Gent, Belgium)
10/31 :: Botticino Jazz Festival (Botticino, Italy)*
11/01 :: PiM Spazio Scenico (Milan, Italy)
11/02 :: Museo (Catanzaro, Italy)

*with special guest Taylor Ho Bynum

Taylor Ho Bynum In October

Photo by Scott Friedlander

Hot on the heels of the mid-September release of his latest CD, Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12 Records), cornetist/composer Taylor Ho Bynum is gearing up for a busy month of performances in New York and abroad.

His upcoming sideman dates include performances with composer/conductor Laura Andel, pianist Lucian Ban, the Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio and a special guest appearance with the Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo in Botticino, Italy.

On October 25th in Boston, he’ll lead the first-ever performance of his new quintet featuring alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs, trombonist and tuba player Bill Lowe, bassist John Hébert and drummer Gerald Cleaver.

The next day in New York, a subset of that group, dubbed the Bynum-Hébert-Cleaver Trio, will perform as part of the RUCMA/Vision Performance Series to be followed by a second trio date in Philadelphia on November 2nd and a recording session for the RogueArt label on November 3rd.

Laura Andel: Premieres and New Works for Large Ensemble
10/17 :: Brecht Forum (New York, NY)

Enesco Reimagined
10/20 :: Merkin Hall (New York, NY)

Taylor Ho Bynum Quintet
10/25 :: Boston Center for the Arts (Boston, MA)

Bynum-Hébert-Cleaver Trio
10/26 :: RUCMA @ The Local 269 (New York, NY)
11/02 :: Ars Nova Workshop @ The Rotunda (Philadelphia, PA)

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo with special guest Taylor Ho Bynum
10/31 :: Botticino Jazz Festival (Botticino, Italy)

Mary Halvorson In October

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Musically speaking, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson’s month will be focused on her week-long European duo tour with violist and longtime collaborator Jessica Pavone, but she’ll also perform tomorrow night at Roulette with Myra Melford’s Happy Whistlings, on Thursday night with Ms. Pavone at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, and on October 30th with the Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio at JazzFestival Frankfurt.

Myra Melford’s Happy Whistlings
10/14 :: Roulette (New York, NY)

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo
10/15 :: Pete’s Candy Store (Brooklyn, NY)
10/25 :: Studio Odeon (Brussels, Belgium)
10/26 :: Cladestino (Faenza, Italy)
10/27 :: Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome, Italy)
10/29 :: Voruuit (Gent, Belgium)
10/31 :: Botticino Jazz Festival (Botticino, Italy)*
11/01 :: PiM Spazio Scenico (Milan, Italy)
11/02 :: Museo (Catanzaro, Italy)

*with special guest Taylor Ho Bynum

Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio
10/30 :: JazzFestival Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)

Firehouse 12’s 2009 Fall Jazz Series Begins Tonight

Photo by Kazuki Takami

New Haven’s Firehouse 12 will launch its fifth annual Fall Jazz Series tonight with a two set performance by guitarist/composer Brandon Ross and his group, Blazing Beauty, featuring longtime collaborators Stomu Takeishi (bass) and JT Lewis (drums).

Jazz columnist Owen McNally previews the event in yesterday’s Hartford Courant.

Concerts will continue every Friday night (with a one-week break for Thanksgiving on November 27th) through December 18th when the series concludes with the final performance of the Daniel Levin Trio’s American tour.

Firehouse 12 is an award-winning bar, state-of-the-art recording studio and unusually intimate music venue located at 45 Crown Street in New Haven’s historic Ninth Square District. For its semi-annual jazz concert series, the acoustically engineered studio space transforms into an incomparable 80-seat venue Nate Chinen called “the pre-eminent spot for improvised music in the region” in his March 2009 feature for the New York Times.

2009 Fall Jazz Series Schedule:

09/18 :: Brandon Ross & Blazing Beauty
09/25 :: Matt Wilson Quartet
10/02 :: Mauger: Rudresh Mahanthappa/Mark Dresser/Gerry Hemingway
10/09 :: Steve Lehman Trio
10/16 :: Gretchen Parlato Band
10/23 :: Whirrr! The Music of Jimmy Giuffre
10/30 :: Taylor Eigsti Trio
11/06 :: ODE: Larry Ochs/Trevor Dunn/Lisle Ellis/Michael Sarin
11/13 :: The Peter Evans Quartet
11/20 :: Darius Jones Trio
12/04 :: Mary Halvorson Quintet
12/11 :: Amy Cervini Quartet
12/18 :: Daniel Levin Trio

Tickets and more information available at:
http://firehouse12.com/performance_space_calendar.asp

Mary Halvorson Quintet In Philly Tonight

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Tonight, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and her newest group, the Mary Halvorson Quintet, will open Ars Nova Workshop’s 10th anniversary season with a performance at the International House in Philadelphia.

The line-up for this concert will feature Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), Trevor Dunn (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums).

This will be one of only three performances this fall, with varying personnel due to scheduling conflicts, before the group goes into the studio to record the follow-up to Ms. Halvorson’s widely acclaimed debut, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records).

She will also be performing this month with Matthew Welch’s Blarvuster on September 17th and 18th at The Kitchen in New York and with Ches Smith and These Arches on September 23rd at Barbès in Brooklyn.

YouTube: Mary Halvorson Trio In Los Angeles

Two clips of the Mary Halvorson Trio performing new music at the Hammer Museum on August 6th:

Previewing Our Clients’ Fall Performances

Mary Halvorson Trio by Peter Gannushkin

Here’s a preview of our clients’ Fall 2009 live dates in support of recent, current or forthcoming recordings.

[Updated 9/12/09]

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society:

09/17 :: New Languages Festival (Brooklyn, NY)
09/18 :: The Jazz Gallery (New York, NY)
10/19 :: Brooklyn Big Band Bonanza @ The Bell House (Brooklyn, NY)
11/25 :: Iridium Jazz Club (New York, NY)

AUM Fidelity:

09/11 :: Joe Morris’ Wildlife @ Outpost 186 (Cambridge, MA)
10/14 :: Joe Morris Quartet @ The Local 269 (New York, NY)
10/15 :: David S. Ware/Darius Jones Trio/William Parker & Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra @ Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY)
11/20 :: Darius Jones Trio @ Firehouse 12 (New Haven, CT)

Taylor Ho Bynum:

09/19 :: Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings @ The Jazz Gallery (New York, NY)
09/25 :: Positive Catastrophe @ New Languages Festival (Brooklyn, NY)

Creative Nation Music:

09/05 :: Fewell/Hofbauer Duo @ Outpost 186 (Cambridge, MA)
09/23 :: Eric Hofbauer & The Infrared Band @ Cambridge YMCA Theater (Cambridge, MA)
09/30 :: Fewell/Hofbauer Duo @ OM (Cambridge, MA)
10/03 :: Garrison Fewell’s Variable Density Sound Orchestra @ Outpost 186 (Cambridge, MA)

Harris Eisenstadt & Canada Day:

09/16 :: Clean Feed Fest IV @ Cornelia Connelly Center (New York, NY)
10/24 :: Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)
10/25 :: Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)
10/27 :: York University (Toronto, ON)
10/27 :: Tranzac (Toronto, ON)
10/28 :: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (Buffalo, NY)
10/29 :: The Bop Shop (Rochester, NY)

James Falzone’s KLANG:

08/30 :: Chicago Jazz Festival preview @ Hungry Brain (Chicago, IL)
08/31 :: Chicago Jazz Festival preview @ Skylark (Chicago, IL)
09/06 :: Chicago Jazz Festival (Chicago, IL)
09/23 :: The Hideout (Chicago, IL)
11/18 :: Thomas Moore College (Covington, KY)
11/19 :: Bela Dubby (Cleveland, OH)
11/20 :: Kerrytown Concert House (Ann Arbor, MI)
11/21 :: The Sugar Maple (Milwaukee, WI)
11/22 :: The Hungry Brain (Chicago, IL)

Firehouse 12 Records:

09/19 :: Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings @ The Jazz Gallery (New York, NY)
09/25 :: John Hébert’s Byzantine Monkey @ Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)
09/26 :: John Hébert’s Byzantine Monkey @ Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)

Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo:

10/25 :: Studio Odeon (Bruxelles, Belgium)
10/27 :: Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome, Italy)
10/29 :: Vooruit (Gent, Belgium)
10/31 :: Botticino Jazz Festival (Botticino, Italy)

Mary Halvorson Trio:

12/07 :: Cafe Wilhelmina (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
12/08 :: Stadtgarten (Cologne, Germany)
12/09 :: Alter Schl8hof (Wels, Austria)
12/11 :: Jazz Dock (Prague, Czech Republic)
12/13 :: Venue TBA, (Ueberlingen, Germany)
12/14 :: The Vortex Jazz Club (London, England)
12/16 :: Rote Fabrik (Zurich, Switzerland)

Mary Halvorson Quintet:

09/11 :: International House (Philadelphia, PA)
12/02 :: Barbès (Brooklyn, NY)
12/04 :: Firehouse 12 (New Haven, CT)

Jessica Pavone & The Toomai String Quintet:

11/10: Roulette (New York, NY)

Playscape Recordings

10/15 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Bucharest, Romania
10/16 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Sibiu, Romania
10/17 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Dunajska Streda, Slovakia
10/19 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Budapest, Hungary
10/20 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Budapest, Hungary
10/21 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Muenster, Germany
10/22 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Katowice, Poland
10/23 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Katowice, Poland
10/24 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Nurnberg, Germany
10/25 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Brussels, Belgium
10/26 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Neustadt, Germany
10/27 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Bergneustadt, Germany
10/28 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Dornbirn, Austria
10/29 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Leverkeusen, Germany
10/30 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Oberengstringen, Switzerland
10/31 :: The Fonda/Stevens Group in Saignelegier, Switzerland

Fay Victor Ensemble:

10/01 :: Roulette (New York, NY)
10/04 :: The Rotunda (Philadelphia, PA)

Tzadik To Release Jessica Pavone’s New CD In October

Photo by Erica Magrey

On October 27th, Tzadik will release violist/composer Jessica Pavone’s Songs of Synastry and Solitude (TZ 7719) as part of the Oracles series, which celebrates “the diversity and creativity of women in experimental music making.” Inspired by the simple beauty of American folk songs, and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Love and Hate (Columbia), this recording features 11 of Ms. Pavone’s original compositions for string quartet (violin, viola, cello and double bass) being performed by members of the Toomai String Quintet. The group will celebrate the release of the record on Tuesday, November 10th with a live performance at Roulette in New York.

The music on Songs of Synastry and Solitude grew out of the composing process for her 2007 release, Quotidian (Peacock Recordings), which documents a four-part suite that examines the temporal landmarks within each day. “I was most satisfied with the results of ‘Post Meridiem’, the afternoon piece,” Ms. Pavone remembers, “which explored informal music for one’s self in the middle of the day, in contrast to formal evening concerts. I wanted to continue writing string music based on the ideas in that piece, but for a quartet with double bass, which gives the music more flexibility and allows me to more easily draw from my folk music influence—the idea being I am writing ’songs’ for a ‘classical’ ensemble.”

“I don’t feel like my music has something grandiose to portray,” she continues. “I just want it to sound real. I’m a songwriter that just happens to write instrumental songs—I hear music for small and intimate ensembles—and that was my approach to these string quartets. There is a lot of arpeggiation of chords throughout the ensemble emulating a finger picked guitar as well as a chorus/verse structure and an emphasis on simplicity. As I was composing these songs, I would check out older European composers’ string quartet scores and recordings, and every time said to myself, ‘I would never write music like this.’ Then there’d be times I’d hear a song by the Soul Stirrers or Leonard Cohen and think, ‘Ah, I would write music like this. I am going to borrow forms from this.’”

The influence of Cohen, and his dichotomous 1970 recording, are felt throughout this project, both in name and the underlying intent of the composer. “There’s a deep, unexplainable feeling I get from listening to his music,” says Ms. Pavone. “I feel like he encourages me to live outside this world and to explore what I call ‘the ghosts of all things lost’, reminders of past moments in my life that are still oddly familiar, but no longer part of my present existence. I want my music to have a heaviness—a weight that people feel and not just hear—as I try to recreate the feeling of his music, as well as my experience feeling his music.”

“Jessica Pavone is one of the busiest young performers on the city’s creative music scene,” declared Steve Dollar in a 2008 feature in the New York Sun, “lending her strings and a direct, personal style of playing them to all kinds of settings.” Jazz Review’s Philip Clark writes, “We learn things from her music that we didn’t already know. [Her] harmonic openness turns the microscope on herself and she responds with lines of honest clarity, an oblique perspective on the familiar.” AllMusic.com’s Charlie Wilmouth adds, “Her work possesses an uncommon amount of elegance…each piece is perfectly formed, expiring just as its tiny collection of melodic materials cycles through to its logical conclusion.”

Active in New York for the past decade, Ms. Pavone is best known for her work with the iconic Anthony Braxton, and a cadre of his former students that includes guitarist Mary Halvorson and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. In addition to leading her own bands, such as The Pavones, she has also performed in improvising ensembles led by Jeremiah Cymerman, Laurence “Butch” Morris, Matana Roberts and Eliot Sharp, as well as such collective groups as the Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo and The Thirteenth Assembly.

As a composer, she has earned grants and commissions from the Aaron Copland Recording Fund, the American Music Center, The Kitchen, MATA and the group, Till By Turning, which recently presented the European premiere of “Quotidian” at Faust’s Klangbad Festival 2009 in Germany. Her discography features more than 30 recordings, including recent releases from the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet, Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings and William Parker.

Learn more at http://www.jessicapavone.com