Mary Halvorson Trio Coming To Yoshi's Jazz Club + Penofin Jazz Festival In May

[Improvised_Communications]

Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and her trio are headed to California in May to perform at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland (May 10th) and the Penofin Jazz Festival in Potter Valley (May 12th) in support of her forthcoming release, Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records).

The group, which for these two events will feature bassist Michael Formanek (who Ms. Halvorson also performs with in the new collective trio Thumbscrew) and drummer Ches Smith, has been at the center of all three of her widely acclaimed releases as a bandleader, including the highly anticipated Bending Bridges, which will officially hit the streets May 8th.

Ms. Halvorson, who topped the Rising Star Guitar category in the latest DownBeat Critics Poll and was named named New York's Best Guitarist 2011 by the Village Voice, has played all around the world with her trio, including major venues and festivals in 11 different countries.

This is her first concert in California as a leader since 2009, when she and her trio played at Yoshi's and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She last performed on the West Coast in March 2011 at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco with MacArthur "Genius" Grant-winning pianist/composer Jason Moran.

Critics have called Ms. Halvorson "daringly unpredictable" (The New Yorker), "a distinct voice of her own" (Carl Wilson, Slate), "the most original jazz guitarist in a generation" (Michael J. West, Washington City Paper), "the most forward-thinking guitarist working right now" (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org), "a multi-faceted artist whose writing is as impressive as her improvising" (Troy Collins, Point of Departure) and "one of today's most formidable bandleaders" (Francis Davis, Village Voice).

When not leading her own bands, including her working quintet and the recently created Reverse Blue and Mary Halvorson Septet, she is the guitarist of choice for such notable bandleaders as Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, Curtis Hasselbring and Ingrid Laubrock. She also appears on multiple releases from the working ensembles Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone, The Thirteenth Assembly and the Tom Rainey Trio.

Learn more about Mary Halvorson at http://maryhalvorson.com

[Mike Schwartz]

We'll be all over that at KSJS, San Jose

I'll be there at the Yoshi's gig!