The widely celebrated 2010 debut of Mary Halvorson's Quintet, Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12), confirmed the young guitarist's growing reputation with a selection of urbane compositions as impressive as her idiosyncratic improvisations. Bending Bridges expands upon the previous album's concepts, offering further proof of Halvorson's burgeoning talent, reinforced by an even greater sense of accord within the ensemble.
Bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith once again support the vivacious frontline of trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, who join Halvorson's Trio for half the record, extrapolating a dizzying array of contrapuntal themes while gracefully navigating the capricious transitions of her modular structures. Halvorson's salient abilities as a composer are a defining feature of the session; her talent for crafting intricate arrangements that maintain a sense of organic cohesiveness—despite often jarring juxtapositions—is noteworthy.
Halvorson's labyrinthine pieces evolve with exacting precision; their fleetingly oblique melodies and sudden shifts in color, density and rhythm are mediated with sophisticated deportment. For example, the opener, "Sinks When She Rounds The Bend" implies the literal aspects of its title; after a stately fanfare and pair of understated solos from Halvorson and Hébert, the band gradually builds momentum until a frenetic collective climax coaxes the guitarist into a brash, Sonic Youth-inspired maelstrom, before the entire ensemble suddenly plummets into muted pointillism, sinking into aural oblivion.
Although Halvorson's multifaceted writing is a highpoint of the date, it ultimately serves to inspire her improvisational prowess—and that of her sidemen. Making the most of a delay, distortion and volume pedal, she summons a bewildering array of prismatic tonalities, her spidery fretwork vacillating between effervescent ruminations and bursts of coruscating frenzy—often within the same tune. Yet Halvorson's unique method of bending tones and pitches with a delay unit is her most striking innovation, advancing the notion of blue notes with futuristic élan.
As longstanding associates of Halvorson's, Hébert and Smith negotiate all manner of dynamic tempo shifts, modulating time signatures and deconstructed interplay; their congenial rapport imbues a sense of stylistic continuity to an endless variety of rhythmic strategies, from the thunderous downbeats of "The Periphery Of Scandal" to the nervy syncopation of "Deformed Weight Of Hands." Finlayson and Irabagon conjure equally fascinating variations from these multihued numbers; on the epic "Love In Eight Colors" Finlayson's unaccompanied solo resounds with intervallic ingenuity while Irabagon fashions a series of quixotic lyrical motifs from controlled multiphonics.
Greater than the sum of its parts, Bending Bridges is another exemplary offering from Halvorson's Quintet, whose eclectic yet systematic efforts are as consistently challenging as they are appealing. - Troy Collins / allaboutjazz.com
Guitarist Mary Halvorson has appeared in several recent posts on this blog and much has been written about the fresh and exciting perspective she is bringing to the guitar, however, most of the recordings documented here are projects outside her explicit leadership. While all are excellent recordings, this latest one, 'Bending Bridges' recorded with her quintet, is an exciting documentation of her evolving style and group's playing.
I had a preview peak at the charts for some of the songs when I arrived a little too late at The Stone last fall and ended up sitting behind the musicians and had a clear view of their music stands. Dense thickets of notation, like rorschach test from my vantage point, spread out across endlessly accordioning pages. I was as mystified by the charts as much as I was by the brilliant playing.
It's quite satisfying to hear the music that was captured for this album. The guitar is at the center of 'Bending Bridges' and its sounds and shapes are reflected in the compositions. It is an exciting set of songs that pack a lot of changes, textures, styles and space into their fairly complex arrangements and where careful consideration and space is thoughtfully given to all the musicians.
From the opening moments, there is gravitas to "Sinks When She Rounds The Bend (No. 22)". The guitar holds unusually voiced chords while the double horn line up of trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and Saxophonist Irabagon play a slow moving melody, creating an effect like chords moving in counterpoint. Halvorson then uses single note lines, with some unexpected intervals, to bridge between quick melodies from the horns. Bassist John Hebert has an extensive solo and his interactions with drummer Ches Smith's ambient textures makes for quite a happy earful.
The next tune, 'Hemorrhaging Smiles (No. 25)', is a fascinating track. From the somewhat jaunty rhythm, to the excellent solos from the horns, to the plaintive melody riding over the guitar solo, the song evolves into a distortion laden rocking affair and down in the muck free jazz exploration. The seamless blend between the free playing and composed sections seems to showcase the versatility of group and Halvorson's confident compositional skills.
Another song, 'The Periphery Of Scandal (No. 23)', has Halvorson leading off with an uptempo and sinewy melody. Recorded with the core trio of guitar, bass and drums (the quintet plays on just over half of the tunes) it becomes obvious that foundation created by the three allows the full quintet to be the 'icing on the cake'. It's great to hear Smith's tumbling solo and the connection that the trio has, and when Halvorson hits the distortion, the effects are devastatingly sublime.
I could go on and on, but it's suffice to say that this is a highly creative and compelling set of songs that begs for repeat and close listens. For me, each time I hear it, a new layer of sound peels away and presents itself. I may be going out on a limb here but there is a kinship to Tomas Fujiwara & the Hook Up's 'The Air is Different' released last week and even the recording from Aych released a few months ago. Not just because Finlayson is a member of the Hook Up and Halvorson is a member of both, but rather in something found in the approach and spirit of the work. Perhaps it's just the proximity of their releases, but the blend of freedom and composition and the bricolage of seemingly opposed styles being melded with growing sophistication seems to be part of a journey to something new and exciting. - Paul / freejazzblog.org
2010’s Saturn Sings, the first quintet record from Brooklyn-based Mary Halvorson, was very good indeed but Bending Bridges is even better, up there with her trio work and her collaborations with Anthony Braxton and Marc Ribot. The Ribot link makes sense: there can be something cosy, almost smug, about jazz guitar, but Halvorson is closer to a tradition represented by Ribot or Bill Frisell or James ‘Blood’ Ulmer or Fred Frith or Derek Bailey.
It isn’t that she necessarily sounds like any of them, although there are hints; it’s that she has the same ability to emerge victorious, from what Martin Amis would call the war against cliché. Halvorson is an increasingly strong composer too, now clearly writing with these four other voices in mind. The vocabulary can be that of the avant-garde, but there’s at least a toe in popular music: it’s no surprise that she loves Robert Wyatt. Is there a better guitarist in her generation? - Marcus O'Dair / jazzwise.com
It’s something of an event when, in this type of music, there’s crossover/poly-genre potential from a single artist’s work. Sometimes it comes through a musician working with figures in another field — say, pianist-composer Matthew Shipp’s collaborations with electronic and hip-hop composers as part of Thirsty Ear’s Blue Series. In other instances, it might be inherent in the music itself. Guitarist and improvising composer Mary Halvorson has appeared on a few Thirsty Ear releases, including a creative indie-folk duo with violist Jessica Pavone and an itchy-scratchy trio with drummer Weasel Walter and trumpeter Peter Evans. Halvorson is one-third of the art rock group People, part of the excellent chamber jazz quartet The Thirteenth Assembly, bassist Trevor Dunn’s (John Zorn, The Melvins) group, and leads or co-leads a variety of other ensembles. In addition she has turned the “guitar chair” on its head in a number of side-person appearances. In a town of thousands of busy and unique musicians — New York — she’s one of the busiest and most unique. Bending Bridges is her second quintet disc and third for New Haven label Firehouse 12, featuring nine compositions fleshed-out with drummer Ches Smith, bassist John Hébert, altoist Jon Irabagon, and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson. The result is a series of darting and complex but boppish and robust pieces that display a cohesive grab bag of approaches.
With a fairly minimal pedal setup, Halvorson coaxes a range of sounds from her hollow-bodied axe, leaping across intervals, shifting pitches, and constructing odd voicings with a hefty dose of distortion. Her strokes are thick and muscular, ultra-concentrated while also quick and resourceful. That being said, her quintet music is rhythmically jaunty and rather accessible, yawing between bright, swinging sections and freer passages. A lesson in how Halvorson puts things together is “Forgotten Men in Silver,” a trio piece (like all of the tunes here, it’s titled by writing words down in a half-awake state) that begins with a coda of reverberant unaccompanied strums and cymbal wash. Bass and drums thread a choppy backbeat offset by flitting walks, Halvorson laying down a lemony progression and employing wistful clamber before delving into pitch-divided shimmer and muted scrape. Against a stuttering metronome, the guitarist returns to the fore with narrow thematic elaboration, additive and worried pluck soon becoming a mass of darts and seasick dives alongside the rhythm section’s accented field. The piece closes near where it began with a dusty tone row.
“Love in Eight Colors” follows, moving from a lilting line into brash particulates as Finlayson stretches into fat, unaccompanied cadences. A very swinging player, he holds attention on his own and carries a driving rhythm even as guitar and rhythm build a spontaneous cloud. A wry saxophonist in Mostly Other People Do The Killing and his own somewhat winking ensembles, Jon Irabagon’s biting tone and detailed shimmy is an excellent foil for Halvorson’s knotty volumes. Alto and guitar interleave burred reflection as the rhythm section acts as both counterweight and snappy meter, resulting in Smith’s melodic solo tumble.
Lest one think Bending Bridges is entirely beholden to modern jazz quirks, Halvorson retains a connection to avant-rock throughout. For example, “The Periphery of Scandal” rises and twirls, shimmering dissonance gradually spilling out into crunching fuzz and snatches of Don Caballero-esque craftiness. “Deformed Weight of Hands” is squirrelly and chunky before taking a turn into uneasy sashays and a blurred prog/postbop hybrid (think early Deerhoof melded with Tim Berne). It’s easier for the rockish impulses to be carried out in a trio setting, perhaps, and that’s certainly part of why Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12, 2009) was so successful. But that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of appeal to the gentle, pointillist, and dryly angular interplay between her and Irabagon on “Sea Cut Like Snow” or the presence of Finlayson’s incisive, straight-arrow whine.
One thing that Bending Bridges presents — and even considering how the music moves between crags and elisions — is that Halvorson’s compositional approach is now a lot more refined and smoothed-over. Not that subtlety is a negative (on the contrary), but her music at this point might not shake one so vigorously with its challenges. Rather, they’re arrived at with an enduring delicacy and thoughtfulness. - Clifford Allen
Tracks
1. Sinks When She Rounds The Bend (No. 22)
2. Hemorrhaging Smiles (No. 25)
3. Forgotten Men In Silver (No. 24)
4. Love In Eight Colors (No. 21)
5. The Periphery Of Scandal (No. 23)
6. That Old Sound (No. 27)
7. Sea Cut Like Snow (No. 26)
8. Deformed Weight Of Hands (No. 28)
9. All The Clocks (No. 29)
JON IRABAGON alto saxophone
JOHN HÉBERT bass
CHES SMITH drums
MARY HALVORSON guitar
JONATHAN FINLAYSON trumpet
Music composed by Mary Halvorson
Recorded July 30-31, 2011 at Firehouse 12