One of the finest jazz guitarists of her generation, Halvorson is possessed of a questing, restless spirit. Jazzwise

With an album of string quartet music as strong as this one, she is worthy of as much renown in the classical field as she holds in the jazz community. New York Times

One of Americas finest guitarists. Halvorsons musicianship is open-minded, demanding and richly engaging. Uncut

Nonesuch Records releases Cloudward by Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Mary Halvorson on January 19. The album features eight new compositions by Halvorson, performed with her sextet Amaryllis, the improvisatory band that performed on her critically praised 2022 albums Amaryllis and Belladonna comprising Halvorson, Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam OFarrill (trumpet). Labelmate Laurie Anderson also is featured on the album track Incarnadine. Halvorson and Amaryllis will tour internationally following the release of the new album, including January dates in Europe, as well as at the Big Ears Festival as part of Nonesuchs 60th anniversary celebration.

Halvorson says, All of the music on Amaryllis was written in 2020, during the thick of the pandemic, in one of the more bizarre time periods Ive experienced in my life. While composing for Amaryllis, I expanded upon certain musical concepts Id developed in my life up until that pointthe ones that felt fruitfuland left others behind, hitting the reset button and attempting to build from scratch. Two years later, after the release of the first album, I was still writing music for Amaryllis.

All the music on Cloudward was written in 2022, mostly in the fall and winter, when things started moving forward. Life felt like a creaky machine starting up again, she continues. Air travel, however chaotic, had resumed, and we were once again cloudward. Performances and tours and recordings were happening after a long hiatus and with a renewed sense of gratitude. This band, for me, was quite simply working, both musically and personally, and the main thing I felt while writing the music was optimism.

The Guardian said Halvorsons 2022 double release shows how far this single-minded original has come, and affords a glimpse of how far she may go. Both sessions confirm how years of jaggedly lyrical solo and ensemble improvising and a quirkily subversive affection for mainstream music have now nurtured a composer of unpredictable but warmly expressive character These are new landmarks in Halvorsons already inimitable discography. Pitchfork said, Amaryllis and Belladonna are distinct statements; one could hear either album on its own without a sense that something is missing. But they are most powerful when taken together, like a landscape and its reflection in rippling water.

Halvorson has released a series of critically acclaimed albums, from Dragons Head (2008), her trio debut featuring bassist John Hbert and drummer Ches Smith, expanding to a quintet with trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon on Saturn Sings (2010) and Bending Bridges (2012), a septet with tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trombonist Jacob Garchik on Illusionary Sea (2014), and finally an octet with pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn on Away With You (2016). She also released the solo recording Meltframe (2015), and most recently debuted Code Girl (2018, 2020), a new ensemble featuring vocalist Amirtha Kidambi (singing Halvorsons own lyrics), trumpeter Adam OFarrill, saxophonist and vocalist Mara Grand, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara.

One of New York Citys most in-demand guitarists, over the past decade Halvorson has worked with such diverse musicians 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. She is also part of several collaborative projects, most notably the longstanding trio Thumbscrew with Michael Formanek on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums.

Tracklist:
1. The Gate
2. The Tower
3. Collapsing Mouth
4. Unscrolling
5. Desiderata
6. Incarnadine
7. Tailhead
8. Ultramarine