Mary Halvorson Amaryllis Sextet

Cankarjev dom Music Mary Halvorson Amaryllis Sextet

Mary Halvorson, guitar; Adam O’Farrill, trumpet; Jacob Garchik, trombone; Patricia Brennan, vibraphone; Nick Dunston, double bass; Tomas Fujiwara, drums

Best Jazz Album of 2022: The 17th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll (151 jazz critics and journalists)
Best Jazz Album of 2022: The Quietus
Second Best Jazz Album of 2022: The Guardian

Mary Halvorson has played our venue on a number of occasions over the recent years, but her projects had never garnered such glowing accolades and praise from the international community of jazz experts. Amaryllis is the latest project by this Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer and MacArthur fellow, released on her debut collaboration with Nonesuch Records in May 2022. The multi-dimensional sextet filters Halvorson’s compositional explorations of melody, harmony and counterpoint through the lens of six master improvisers, arranged in a way that allows for the music to unfold differently every time.

On these new twin albums (Amaryllis Belladonna), guitarist Mary Halvorson combines free improvisation and set forms to create a masterpiece. Without any risk of hyperbole you can describe her as a genius. From post-bop and theatrical anthems to contemporary chamber music, a lot is covered here, but precisely because this all comes together to form a unity, the album is a stroke of (that word again!) genius.
Süddeutsche Zeitung