Mary Halvorson began her set at Joe’s Pub on Sunday with one of the first pieces she composed for her trio, with bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith. Its melody shifted and buckled as she played, occasionally twisting in on itself, and I couldn’t help but think that her aesthetic for the band had evolved -- even though the personnel on this date had Tomas Fujiwara, a frequent collaborator, filling in for Smith.
Halvorson specializes in strangely tuneful provocations, and that was as true on Sunday as it is throughout Dragon’s Head, her excellent debut, released last year on Firehouse 12. One of the most striking things about hearing her in person, on her bandstand or someone else’s, is the stubborn physical dimension of her sound on guitar. Last fall, in preparation for a preview feature, I asked her about this (among other things), and found her response to be fascinating:
I love the idea of a guitarist willfully emulating a bassist (cf. “the woodiness of the instrument”), rather than the other way around (à la Stanley Clarke). Interestingly, this is a line of thought that Joe Morris -- a former teacher of Halvorson’s, and in some ways a stylistic precursor -- has put to the ultimate test. Morris can be heard playing upright bass on Matthew Shipp’s most recent trio record, and on a forthcoming trio release of his own. For the moment Halvorson appears content to leave the actual bass playing to Hébert, whose depth of intuition in this sort of setting has long been a marvel.
Of course the substitution of Fujiwara for Smith did change the chemistry of the group, producing a brighter and more lithesome dynamic. Fujiwara, who works more regularly with Halvorson -- in his own ensemble, in a fine experimental collective and in assorted other groups -- came across as a less maniacal, more detail-oriented presence than Smith. He handled the material, old and new, with finesse. I was particularly fond of his work on the waltz-time “Old Nine Two Six Four Two Dies (No. 10),” which Halvorson has taken to playing at a slightly quicker tempo than on record.
About the new material: much of it was for a quintet, with trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon. I caught the first public appearance of this group at Roulette in February, and can happily attest that it has come a long way since. The music felt appealingly roomy, with enough looseness to allow for solo engagement. Each tune I heard involved both horns entwining at close intervals, but in a different way each time: forebodingly, inquisitively, heatedly. (The closer conveyed something like a mariachi flair.)
On Halvorson’s MySpace page, she alludes to an early source of inspiration for her quintet writing, and you may be surprised to know what it is. Here’s the link she provides, to a clip of one of the great hard-bop elegies played by one of the great hard-bop entities:
Halvorson will record this new music at Firehouse 12 later this year, and release her next album (if all goes as planned) in summer 2010. I’m sure she’ll be gigging it again too, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, one last clip: it's Halvorson-Hébert-Smith playing “Old Nine Two Six Four Two Dies (No. 10),” and worth hearing despite the murky quality.
Thanks for this, Nate. Good reading. Very interesting to see Mary draws inspiration from such a hard-bop group. Would never have guessed.
Posted by: Matt | 06/29/2009 at 10:15 PM