by Adam Schatz (Search & Restore)

Mary Halvorson (photo by Peter Gannushkin)

Mary Halvorson's sound is a hyena, sharp and active. Historically, the classic jazz guitar tone and reputation is closer to a basset hound. 9 out of 10 dentists prefer the one who's out for blood. Standing out from the pack, Halvorson's strings cut with beauty and precision. Her melodies are hooky and complex at the same time, no small feat, and her talent for improvising with her hand picked ensemble is one to be seen to be believed. There is a fluidness to her style, and it is all in the art of juxtaposition. She is jagged but defined, aggressive but beautiful.

On Thursday, January 13th, she's performing at Littlefield in Brooklyn in a collaborative trio with improvisers Weasel Walter on the drums and Peter Evans on the trumpet. This double whammy show pairs Halvorson's crew with Mostly Other People Do The Killing, an gloriously titled high energy group (sharing Evans on the trumpet and Talibam!'s Kevin Shea on drums), smashing jazz aesthetics with subtle and not so subtle humor and phenomenal talent. Don't miss it.

The Littlefield show is a record release party for the trio's new record, Electric Fruit, out January 25th via Thirsty Ear. It will be Mary's first release in 2011. She lists nine that came out in 2010. Those include the notable Mary Halvorson Quintet album, Saturn Sings, which was released via Firehouse 12.

Mary can also be found tonight, January 12th, playing with Marc Ribot at Le Poisson Rouge. A video and all of her tour dates can be found below...

Continue reading "a spotlight on jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson (and tour dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Marc Ribot (but were afraid to ask)" is the first of the Stone's new Monday night seminar series and, as previously mentioned, it happens tonight (1/4). The first 13 of those events, which the venue describes as "a special series of workshops, lectures, seminars and Q&As on a variety of fascinating subjects by some of the world's most unique, cutting edge musical thinkers," are laid out below and cover a huge spectrum of musicians and topics.

Ribot will be performing as part of the NY Guitar Festival on January 14th (doing a live improvised score to Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid") and playing with his stellar group Ceramic Dog on February 2nd at (Le) Poisson Rouge (with Skeletons, who played NYE and New Year's Day shows at Zebulon, opening). Tickets for the LPR show, which is also part of the NY Guitar Fest (more on that later), are on sale.

Another interesting, very different Q&A event is also coming up. On February 23rd, Santos Party House will host "Ask Andrew W.K. Anything: An intimate evening of unpredictable performance." Presumably the event is being held to further address the internet rumor that Andrew W.K. is an actor who plays the part of Andrew WK. Tickets are on sale. In other news, he's re-releasing his formerly-import-only-record Close Calls With Brick Walls with a new "lost" disc Mother of Mankind on February 23rd, and he's on this year's Warped Tour.

More info on the Andrew W.K. event and the Stone's seminar series are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot & Andrew W.K. answer your questions and other upcoming events (The Stone, Santos, LPR & more)"