Next month, Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson will jet off to the UK for a two-night residency at London's Vortex Jazz Club. On Thursday, May 24th, she'll join forces with saxophonist Evan Parker and bassist John Edwards. The following night, she'll improvise with tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson, pianist Liam Noble and cellist Ben Davis.

This residency falls between two series of dates with her own trio and quintet in support of Bending Bridges, her highly anticipated third recording as a bandleader for Firehouse 12 Records. The first leg will feature concerts on both U.S. coasts, including stops at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, California (May 10th), Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine (May 16), Firehouse 12 in New Haven, Connecticut (May 18th) and Cornelia Street Café in New York (May 19th), as well The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) in Victoriaville, Canada on May 17th. Two more shows will follow in early June at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in Vermont and The Lily Pad in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"She has established herself as one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz—or otherwise," declares The Wall Street Journal's Steve Dollar in his 2011 feature article documenting the Bending Bridges sessions. Critics have also described Ms. Halvorson as "daringly unpredictable" (The New Yorker), "a distinct voice of her own" (Carl Wilson, Slate), "the most forward-thinking guitarist working right now" (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org) and "one of today's most formidable bandleaders" (Francis Davis, Village Voice).

"One of the year's most eagerly anticipated albums," writes JazzTimes reviewer Lloyd Sachs, "the Mary Halvorson Quintet's Bending Bridges has its work cut out for it topping the band's 2010 poll favorite, Saturn Sings. But the new recording, which benefits from the band's first serious stretch of playing together live, is even deeper and edgier than its predecessor. It confirms Halvorson as an artist whose originality as a guitarist is no fiercer than her originality as a writer. Simply put, no one is making music like this."

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