The Out Louds, Tomas Fujiwara, Ben Goldberg, Mary Halvorson

The internet is all about classification. Or I should say being read on the internet is that. Here today for example is an album, a first by the trio known as (and a CD self-titled as) The Out Louds (Relative Pitch RPR 1042). It is a well considered triumvirate of Mary Halvorson on electric guitar, Tomas Fujiwara on drums and Ben Goldberg on clarinet. I post it here on the Guitar Blog because Mary's playing will be of great interest to guitar-minded folks. But if I had a clarinet blog, it could easily go there, or on a drum blog, too. That is because all three give us much to appreciate.

It is a matter of 11 freely improvised numbers of weight. Each captures a special moment of inspiration, where Mary comes up with some foundational single-line and/or chorded memorability, Ben replies with a wealth of jagged and/or flowing lines that express a good deal that is wonderful, and Tomas drums in and out of time with a special flourish which is his alone. So it is a matter of some great guitar, great clarinet, great drumming, great trio enacting. If I put it here it at least covers one-third of what makes this one a real keeper.

Mary has gone her own way for quite some time as her own "brand" of free guitar, which is to say that the WHAT is original and foundational. You could say the same for Ben's clarinet and Tomas' drums.

The ins and outs of it all is that this one gives us some fine and original free improvisations, free jazz with its own way of presenting melodic-harmonic-rhythmic complexes that keep interest level high, that make a kind of modern statement of uniqueness. And it's all good. Very good!

Mary Halvorson, Thumbscrew, with Michael Formanek and Thomas Fujiwara

Guitarist Mary Halvorson has cred out there that is deserved. She plays in her own avant garde jazz style and has been doing so for some time. She forms one-third of the trio called Thumbscrew, whose self-titled album came out earlier this year (Cuneiform). Mary joins up with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Thomas Fujiwara to make a very potent combination.

The album features compositional material freely treated and that puts it all in a more ambitious context than a free pickup date might have.

The album shows off all three and their special ways of putting themselves across. It also has a real group dynamic going on between the three.

If I am a little behind posting on it that has nothing to do with worthiness. This is a goody. Any serious student of free music/out jazz and the modern guitarist, bassist and drummer should give this one a spin.

I hope they continue their association for a long time to come. In the interim there is the debut album. Listen to it if you can! Oh, I should mention they are on tour in Europe and US through September, 2014. Look them up on the net to see if they are coming to your zone.

Joy Mega, Forever is Something Inside of You

There are good things to be found these days with music that dwells within the interstices of categories. Take Joy Mega and their Forever is Inside of You (New Atlantis). It's the brainchild of bassist-vocalist-composer Jason Ajemian, who straddles the rock and new music/jazz camps in various very good ways and decided to combine rock/alt song and avant freedom with this group.

It's a pretty heavy hitting lineup: Jason on bass, Chad Taylor, drums, Matt Bauder, tenor/reeds, Mary Halvorson, electric guitar, Jessica Pavone, violin. Those who know the scene will recognize that this is a group of some of the most innovative improvisers around today, all bandleaders in their own right and major proponents on their instruments.

Well, that's the specs, so to speak. What you get music-wise is the successful results of the categoric experimentation. Jason's voice is in the raw, direct court and his songs bounce against the avant improv in unexpected, always interesting, and very creative ways.

If you don't give a hoot about categories and thrive on the new however it conjoins, listen to this one a bunch of times. It's seriously different.

AYCH, As the Crow Flies

AYCH is a formidable free trio lineup of Jim Hobbs on alto sax, Mary Halvorson, electric guitar, and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet. As the Crow Flies (Relative Pitch 1004) brings the three together in a program of free-wheeling improvisations and compositional frameworks, the latter of which include many by Hobbs and are well worth a careful listen.

Mary's guitar gives the unit the possibility of 3rd front liner or harmonic backdrop, single-note improviser, sound artist or free chordal comp-er. She is admirably versatile and original and the trio puts her often in a fulcrum position.

Jim Hobbs plays a very expressive sax, and can emote in post-Ayler ballad context, get the juices flowing or hang back a bit and play sensitively in a three-way ensemble situation.

Taylor Ho is the multifaceted stylist that brings much to this group, a singular voice that can do most anything that's needed.

A totality of concept and interesting trio blend is what goes down here, with a great deal of stylistic variety and plenty of co-listening and preparation.

Great band. Nice music!

Guitarist Mary Halvorson and Her New "Saturn Sings" Recording

Some artists get a certain amount of buzz out there at a certain point in their careers. Guitarist Mary Halvorson is one of them right now. She's written about, lands some prominent gigs and comes to the fore with her latest CD Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12 FH12-04-01-013).

The album pits Halvorson and her regular trio (with Ches Smith on drums and John Hebert, bass) augmented by Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet and Jon Irabagon on alto, the latter of whom has been generating some buzz himself.

It's ten Halvorson compositions with an inside-outside approach put together for the augmented band. Heads and tonality are related to contemporary jazz trends with some quirks; solos and the rhythm section bring in the free aspects of the music to a greater or lesser degree.

There are an interesting series of numbers here and Mary Halvorson shows in her solo style what all the talk is about. She is not one for 32nd-note runs. What she does do is combine note clusters-chords with loping or angular line work and somewhat restrained episodes of skronk outness. Her treatment of chording (with or without what sounds like the whammy) gives her a distinctive sound. Her tone is usually more in the straight-ahead zone than in one of a rock-inflected effects-orientation, though there are moments of shred-tone cranked in for short intervals here and there. To hear her comp is to hear something singular.

Finlayson and Irabagon make for sympathetic and simpatico fellow front liners. They have things to say and they say them.

What you end up with is a convincing set of modern music that should appeal to jazz fanciers and guitar students out there. It is good evidence as to why the buzz about Mary isn't just talk.

Tom Rainey with Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock

Tom Rainey's trio opus Pool School (Clean Feed 185) puts a different spin on small group free improvisation. Mr. Rainey's drums, Ms. Halvorson's electric guitar and Ms. Laubrock's tenor and soprano leave plenty of space for each other. The density of the music is not especially low but it is accommodating. Each voice operates within a space that does not overlap with the others so much as simultaneously creates complementary sound events.

It's not a blow-out, in other words, but it also is not a quasi-new music pointilistic hot potato game.

What that means is you get something of the unexpected. Rainey's drums are considered, not torrential. Mary Halvorson plays lines and chords that sound like they've been chosen with some attention to the total matrix. And Ingrid Laubrook does not solo so much as she bon mots in dialogical conversation shared by the three.

This is pretty subtle and totally engaging music. I like how everyone's roles mesh. It gives you some idea why Mary Halvorson's guitar work has been the subject of some attention. All three players, however, are making equally important contributions. It may take a few listens to absorb the totality of soundings and the thrust of the approach, but one's efforts are rewarded by immersion in a rather rarely encountered world of free improvisation that eschews showmanship for sustained sonic adventure.

That's a nice thing. Put this one on and go someplace away from your "here."