Label: Nonesuch Records, 2022
Personnel - Mary Halvorson: guitar; Adam O’Farrill: trumpet; Jacob Garchik: trombone; Patricia Brennan: vibraphone; Nick Dunston: bass; Tomas Fujiwara: drums + The Mivos Quartet (#4-11).
Brooklyn-based Mary Halvorson is a premier guitarist and composer whose innovative and creative work has been lauded by the public and critics alike. She makes her Nonesuch debut, not with one, but with two interrelated albums: Amaryllis, a six-song suite featuring a newly established sextet of old cohorts plus the Mivos Quartet on half of the tracks; and Belladonna, a set of modern chamber compositions written for guitar and the above mentioned string quartet. All compositions were written in 2020, when the world entered lockdown.
The object of this review is Amaryllis, whose kinetic opening track, “Night Shift”, channels effortless swagger, mastering a rhythmic development in 10/8 that combines indie rock, new music and modern jazz concepts with tasteful effects and triumphant solos from Adam O’Farrill on trumpet and Patricia Brennan on vibraphone. “Anesthesia” arrives next to explore with a calmer temperament; it’s deliberately cerebral and intriguingly percussive at times. On the contrary, the tricky-metered “Amaryllis” starts off with an expeditious bass figure laid down by Nick Dunston, but the relaxed way O’Farrill and trombonist Jacob Garchik blow their horns creates a polyrhythmic feel that is extremely gratifying. After a stunning trumpet solo, drummer Tomas Fujiwara also finds the space to deepen his rhythmic chops.
The three last selections feature the allurement of strings, with the Mivos quartet enlarging the group to a tentet. They forge a nice chamber setting where modern classical and avant-garde elements merge seamlessly. That’s what happens on “Side Effect”, which keeps an exuberant sense of wonder while skillfully warping our rhythmic perception of things. The last couple of tracks, “Hoodwink” and “892 Teeth”, are more immediate, seeking out a more symmetric geometry while putting on view Halvorson’s visionary methods and openness to other genres. The former tune, carrying a march-like propulsion that recalls Bill Frisell’s ECM album Rambler, features the bandleader’s beautiful fingerpicking and warped improvised verses. On the other hand, the latter piece feels intimate and emotional, oozing a somber tone that never reaches a deep level of despair.
Nothing here feels like a stretch. That’s what you get when you have the gift for structured composition and the back of a stupendous cast of players who trust one another implicitly.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Night Shift ► 03 - Amaryllis ► 05 - Hoodwinck