MARY HALVORSON AMARYLLIS SEXTET: CLOUDWARD

"One of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz - and beyond"

(Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal)

MacArthur Fellowship-winning guitarist-composer Mary Halvorson presents her new album, Cloudward, out January 19 on Nonesuch Records. The album features new compositions performed by Halvorson's Amaryllis sextet, with whom she released two albums last year, Amaryllis and Belladonna, both of which were critically acclaimed in DownBeat's Album of the Year poll.

According to the Guardian, the two 2022 albums "show how far this unique mind has come and also indicate where she will go next. Both are testament to how a piecemeal lyrical improvisation and a penchant for mainstream music have now matured into an unpredictable but always arrestingly expressive compositional voice." Pitchfork praised the albums, "Amaryllis and Belladonna stand on their own; you can listen to any of them without feeling a lack. But they are most striking when listened to together: like looking at a landscape and its reflection in rippling water."

"The songs on Amaryllis were written in 2020, during the height of the epidemic, one of the most bizarre times I've ever experienced. I wrote the material for Cloudward during 2022, mostly in the autumn and winter, when everything was moving again, but life started creaking like an old machine. With some difficulty, we could get back on a plane and head for the clouds. After a long hiatus, we could perform, tour and record again with a renewed sense of gratitude. While I was composing, I felt mostly optimism," Halvorson said.

Halvorson's impressive discography to date includes dozens of critically acclaimed albums with various groups, and as one of New York's most sought-after guitarists, he has worked with artists as diverse as Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, John Dieterich, Trevor Dunn, Bill Frisell, Ingrid Laubrock, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Jessica Pavone, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot and John Zorn over the past decade.