“Flurries of notes mix it up with pungent chords not found in any Ted Greene book, played with an aggressive tone and sharp attack- sometimes subtly distorted and bent, sometimes clean and acoustic. Whether playing in her phenomental duo with violist Jessica Pavone, fronting with Mary Halvorson Trio with bassist John Hebert and drummer Ches Smith, avant-barnstorming in legendary saxophonist Anthony Braxton’s trio, or hitting the alternarock scene in her duo People with drummer Kevin Shea, Mary Halvorson orchestrates with her guitar, using counterpoint, textures and lines with nary a cliche to be found.”
-Elliott Sharp, Guitar Player Magazine, December 2007
“Consistently one of the most fascinating and satisfying guitarists in town.”
-Time Out New York, February 2008
“Halvorson, a stunning talent on the rise, employs a timbre, tone and phrasing on guitar all her own. Her angular, repeated refrains explore uncharted territory with a mixture of pliant warmth and prickly assertiveness. From pointillist, acoustic mutterings to hard-scrabble, distorted scrawl, her singular approach is utterly unique.”
-Troy Collins, All About Jazz, August 2007
“Whether Halvorson’s ballistic or pointillistic, this young NYC guitarist is tops in a new wave of young improvisers.”
-Time Out Chicago, June 2006
“…I could make the argument that Mary Halvorson has truly come into her own as a post-jazz guitar hero–as much as I’ve been completely blown away by her fusion-meets-math-rock playing with Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, it’s not until hearing the unbridled ingenuity and virtuosity she uses to tie these Braxtonian knots that it’s really sunk in how ridiculously talented she is. Check out the subtle fuzz tone and textural effects she slips in and out of the blue as a departure from her main mode of Morris-inspired spiky, jagged note-sprinting and spring-coil squiggles.”
-Michael Anton Parker, Downtown Music Gallery, Jan 2006
Read an article about the Mary Halvorson Trio in the New York Times, February 2008
Read an article about Mary in Guitar Player Magazine, November 2007
Watch videos of Mary on Gearwire.com: 1. talking about amplifiers; 2. talking about guitars and chords; 3. talking about being female and other issues
Read an article about Mary in the NY Sun, February 2007
Read an interview with Mary in Macao (French improvised music site), Sept 2006
Read a feature on People from Auralminority.com, Nov 2005