Mary Halvorson - Bending Tradition

Halvorson Plays Noel Akchote's Cheshire Hotel

Mary Halvorson isn’t your typical jazz guitarist. Known for her distinct tone and use of pitch bends and various other effects, Halvorson is a groundbreaking musician who’s ultra-creative vision is redefining what it is to play contemporary jazz guitar.

Whether leading her own bands or collaborating with experimental legends, she blends jazz, rock, and avant-garde into a soundscape that’s both cerebral and unpredictable. With a MacArthur “Genius” Grant under her belt, she’s one of the most influential voices in today’s creative music scene.

Check out her rendition of (guitarist) Noel Akchote’s Cheshire Hotel. With a beautiful melody and harmonic context that almost begs to be played in a straightforward fashion, she melts, obscures, and deconstructs the lines in a manner that lays bare the narrative construct to which we typically follow without questioning. If, in traditional jazz circles (at least the way it’s taught in schools), the use of effects are viewed as “artifices” to be subordinated to the aesthetics of tradition, or within the far boundaries if that tradition, then Halvorson exposes the underlying artifice that tradition fails to recognize within itself. 

It’s hard to describe this in words, so why not just check out this incredible piece for yourself.