Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts (2025 Nonesuch Vinyl LP)

Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts Vinyl LP - 2025 Nonesuch Records

• One of jazz's most acclaimed contemporary guitarists - Halvorson's distinctive extended techniques and compositional vision
• All-star octet - featuring Immanuel Wilkins, Patricia Brennan, Adam O'Farrill
• Brand new June 2025 release - dedicated to steel guitar pioneer Susan Alcorn

Guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson presents her latest octet work, eight compositions recorded at New York's Sear Sound featuring an ensemble of contemporary creative music's finest voices. The lineup includes alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, tenor saxophonist Brian Settles, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Nick Dunston, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, with Halvorson on guitar and pocket piano. Released on 13 June 2025 by Nonesuch Records and dedicated to steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn (1953-2025), the album showcases Halvorson's compositional approach that balances written precision with improvisational freedom, her distinctive guitar sound—combining extended techniques, angular melodies, and unconventional tone colours—leading the ensemble through music that defies easy categorization.

Halvorson's compositions create frameworks that allow each musician's individual voice to emerge while maintaining coherent collective identity. Her guitar playing, instantly recognizable through her use of effects, unusual fingerings, and distinctive phrasing, functions as both lead voice and textural element. The octet format allows fuller orchestration than her smaller groups while maintaining the intimacy and flexibility essential to creative improvisation. Wilkins' alto saxophone and Settles' tenor provide contrasting approaches to the frontline, while Brennan's vibraphone adds harmonic and melodic colours rarely heard in contemporary jazz contexts.

The rhythm section of Dunston and Fujiwara, both leaders in their own right, provides foundation that supports without constraining, their interaction creating rhythmic complexity and dynamic range. O'Farrill's trumpet and Garchik's trombone complete the horn section, their contributions adding both ensemble weight and solo possibilities. Recorded at Sear Sound, mastered and lacquer cut at Masterdisk, and pressed at GZ Media, this album continues Halvorson's exploration of composition and improvisation that has made her one of contemporary jazz's most distinctive and celebrated voices.