Tonight, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and her acclaimed working quintet kick-off their CD release mini-tour for Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records) at Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine.

The group, which features Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), Stephan Crump (subbing for John Hébert on bass) and Ches Smith (drums), will also perform at Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec on Thursday, Firehouse 12 in New Haven, Connecticut on Friday and Cornelia Street Café in New York on Saturday.

Two additional dates will follow next month at Vermont’s Burlington Discover Jazz Festival on June 7th and The Lily Pad in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 8th. She’ll also travel to Vortex Jazz Club in London to improvise with British musicians as part of a two-night residency beginning May 24th.

“Halvorson is finding fresh ways to sound great, to write catchy tunes, and to put a fire of urgency into hearing jazz in a new way,” writes Will Layman in his PopMatters review of Bending Bridges. “Fans of today’s beyond-category jazz should be lining up for this music, but so should indie-rock fans or guitarheads or noise-rockers or any other music fan who cares to hear the daring mix with the heady. This is another great record from an outstanding band.”

Critics have described Bending Bridges as “a tour de force for Halvorson…both distinctive and distinguished” (Stuart Broomer, The New York City Jazz Record), “masterfully played by all and refreshingly surprising” (Bill Meyer, The Wire) and ”a highly creative and compelling set of songs that begs for repeat and close listen” (Paul Acquaro, Free Jazz).

Dusted‘s Jason Bivins adds, “Halvorson has been in the zone over the past couple years, but it’s hard not to hear Bending Bridges as a highpoint.”

Learn more about Mary Halvorson and her upcoming musical adventures at http://maryhalvorson.com

Photo: James Daniel

This June, Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue and his critically acclaimed 18-piece big band Secret Society will return to the studio to record the highly anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking GRAMMY nominated debut, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam Records).

Today, Argue launches a new Kickstarter campaign to help fund the ambitious three-day recording session, which will document the complete original score from Brooklyn Babylon, the group’s innovative multimedia collaboration with graphic artist Daniel Zezelj.

The list of reward packages for contributors includes MP3 and CD copies of the album, autographed copies of the exclusive Brooklyn Babylon graphic novel and limited edition poster, an original cocktail recipe designed by Argue himself, and an Executive Producer credit and VIP passes for life to all Secret Society performances. The 33-day campaign will conclude at midnight on June 18th, shortly after Secret Society returns home from its South American debut at Brazil’s BMW Jazz Festival and just before the group begins recording the next day.

Unveiled last November over the course of four nights at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2011 Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Babylon is set in a future Brooklyn where plans are afoot to construct the world’s tallest tower in the heart of the city. The central character is Lev Bezdomni, a master carpenter who finds himself torn between ambition and devotion to the neighborhood he loves when he is commissioned to build the carousel that will crown the Tower of Brooklyn. The interactive performances tell the story through a combination of music, projected animation and live painting.

“The music I created for this show, brought vividly to life by my Secret Society co-conspirators, is the culmination of everything we’ve been working towards since our first gig at (the late, lamented) CBGB seven years ago,” Argue explains. “I tried to draw on everything I love about Brooklyn’s musical culture, filtered through my own personal sensibilities. It’s rooted in contemporary jazz, but infused with dance-punk, post-rock, hip hop, doom metal, postminimalism and Balkan-inspired brass bands, reaching all the way back to 19th-century fairground music, waltzes, and marches.”

He adds, “Despite these varied influences, everything is connected: musical ideas are introduced, transformed, and completely re-imagined over the course of the hour-long piece. It’s a novelistic approach to long-form composition. It’s music that tells one big story.”

The original four-night run was previewed in the New York Times, Salon.com, Time Out New York and the Wall Street Journal among other publications. Reviewers called it “truly unique and original” (Jonathan Lindhorst, About.com), “highly compelling and socially relevant” (Jeremy Mage, BOMBLOG) and “a new work of originality, power, and beauty that left an audience slack-jawed” (David Krasnow, WNYC’s Studio 360).

The New York City Jazz Record‘s David R. Adler wrote, “Argue brought out some of his most compelling music to date, with a palette both more subtle and expansive than that of his acclaimed debut Infernal Machines. Passages of great delicacy—piano-clarinet duets, flute chorales, unaccompanied nylon-string guitar—alternated with moments of slashing fury and awesome full-­ensemble precision. Somehow by disassembling the conventional big band in this way, Argue brought it more together than ever.”

Learn more about the campaign, and watch an exclusive four-minute video about the project featuring interviews from Argue, Zezelj and some of the participants and producers, at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darcyjamesargue/music-from-brooklyn-babylon

More information about Secret Society and its upcoming performances, which will include selections from Brooklyn Babylon, is available at http://www.secretsocietymusic.org

Pianist/composer Myra Melford is the winner of the 2012 Alpert Award in the Arts for Music presented by The Herb Alpert Foundation and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). She will officially receive the honor, and its $75,000 prize, at a brunch ceremony later today at the Herb Alpert Foundation in Santa Monica. This is the 18th annual edition of the award, which recognizes the “past performance and future promise” of artists working in five disciplines: dance, film/video, music, theatre and visual arts.

“Myra Melford was honored with the Music Award for her ascending and expansive trajectory, and great, generous musical mind,” explains Irene Borger, Director of the Alpert Award in the Arts. “They celebrate her willingness to dive into the deep end of the pool and her ability to take multiple musical traditions into another sphere.”

Alpert himself adds, “All of this year’s winners represent the essence of the Alpert Award. They take aesthetic, intellectual and political risks, and challenge worn-out conventions. They’re unafraid of the unknown.” A complete list of winners in all five categories, and the panelists that chose them, can be found on the awards’ official Web site at http://www.alpertawards.org

Over the course of two decades and more than 30 recordings, Ms. Melford has carved out a distinctive niche among creative music’s most respected pianist-composers. Her signature sound skillfully combines early influences such as classical music and the traditional blues piano styles of her native Chicago with her later immersion in the music of Eastern Europe and India and extensive musical studies with such legendary figures as Ran Blake, Jaki Byard, Don Pullen and Henry Threadgill.

“Long among the most engrossing of jazz pianists, Myra Melford lately seems to have entered a phase where she can do no wrong,” writes esteemed jazz journalist Francis Davis, who chose The Guest House (Enja/Yellowbird), her latest recording with the all-star collective Trio M, as one of his 10 favorite releases of last year.

Critics have called her “an insightful and far-reaching pianist-composer” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), “a startlingly versatile musician” (Robert Bush, San Diego Reader), “a crafty original whose playing is filled with muscle, brains and poetic spark” (Time Out New York) and “a visionary bandleader with a singularly expansive sound embracing a global array of influences” (Andrew Gilbert, Berkeleyside).

Point of Departure‘s Troy Collins adds, “Melford has a talent for effortlessly interweaving seemingly incongruous elements into cohesive multi-layered compositions, yielding a singular aesthetic that blurs the line between the written and improvised. As lyrical, adventurous and conceptually expansive as the work of contemporaries like Tim Berne, Dave Douglas and Marty Ehrlich, Melford’s compositions are among the most compelling of her generation.”

In addition to Trio M, featuring longtime collaborators Mark Dresser and Matt Wilson, Ms. Melford’s current projects include a duo with clarinetist Ben Goldberg and her new quintet Snowy Egret, which interprets an original book of music inspired by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano’s Memory of Fire Trilogy. She also performs a series of original solo piano pieces based on the drawings of celebrated Sacramento-based artist Don Reich.

Learn more about Myra Melford at http://myramelford.com

Photo: Nick Lloyd

Tonight at 8:00 p.m., Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and her trio will perform at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland in support of her brand new release, Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records).

The group, which for this event 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 on Tuesday.

Ms. Halvorson, who topped the Rising Star Guitar category in the latest DownBeat Critics Poll and was 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

Photo: Alex Inglizian

Tonight at 7:00 p.m., clarinetist/composer James Falzone will perform his extended solo work Sighs Too Deep For Words at Comfort Station in Chicago. The event is a celebration of his new DVD, which documents a March 2011 performance of the piece at Experimental Sound Studio.

“Falzone pursues a musical vision rooted in the middle ground between the fully notated world of conservatory-trained musicians and the improvisation-based energy of jazz and creative music,” wrote Devin Hurd in his feature for the American Music Center’s Web magazine, NewMusicBox, earlier this year. “It is a territory he explores with an omnivorous appetite for musical influences and aesthetic directions. Falzone’s solo clarinet piece, Sighs Too Deep for Words—composed as a structured, hour-long improvisation for clarinet and bells—represents one of his most pure statements as an artist.”

He has been developing Sighs Too Deep For Words since 2002 as way of reconciling a wide variety of spiritual and musical influences. The piece takes its name from a New Testament passage quoting Saint Paul (Romans 8:26), but is equally inspired by the mindfulness prescribed in Zen Buddhism and ideas presented in the sculpture of Andy Goldsworthy, the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Thomas Merton, the music of John Cage and Olivier Messiaen, and Philip Groning’s film, Into Great Silence.

“This is music, yes, but I believe it inhabits a space just beyond music, where sound and silence speak the language of prayer,” he says of the work, which also finds him using prepared clarinets, ritual bells and electronics. “I wanted a more honest vehicle for a connection between my spiritual and artistic life where a piece could literally become a form of prayer or meditation. It is, because of this, a highly personal work to me.”

Falzone talks more about Sighs Too Deep For Words, and many other aspects of his career, in this recently posted Q&A at Weatherman.

Learn more, and watch a streaming video of the complete March 2011 performance, on Falzone’s Web site at http://allosmusica.org/ProjectsEnsembles_text_Solo.htm

Photo: Nick Lloyd

This June, following a month dedicated to supporting her latest release, Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records), Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson will perform with a variety of collaborative projects in New York.

First, on Saturday, June 2nd at 10:00 p.m., Thumbscrew, a collective trio also featuring bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, will close the sixth annual Rhythm In The Kitchen Music Festival at the Church For All Nations in Hell’s Kitchen. This will be the fourth gig this year for the newly formed group, which continues to build and refine an original book of music by all three members for a future recording.

Next, after two dates with her own quintet at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in Vermont and The Lily Pad in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ms. Halvorson will return home to Brooklyn for the June 13th public debut of a new band, Secret Keeper with bassist Stephen Crump, at SEEDS. The duo, which started getting together to play music last summer, has already recorded an all-improvised release called Super Eight due next year on Intakt Records.

Her other two June dates as a co-leader include a duo set with longtime collaborator Jessica Pavone at Sycamore in Brooklyn on June 23rd and an all-improvised date with saxophonist Aram Shelton and drummer Weasel Walter at Douglass Street Music Collective on June 25th.

She’ll also perform as a sideperson with Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House at Vision Festival 17 on June 17th and The Jazz Gallery on June 21st.

Ms. Halvorson has been called “distinctive and original” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader), “a singular talent” (Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes), “NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “her generation’s most innovative guitarist” (Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper) and “one of the prominent lights of experimental improvised music” (Seton Hawkins, Hot House).

Learn more about her, her music and her upcoming performance schedule at http://maryhalvorson.com

The celebration of AUM Fidelity‘s 15th anniversary continues with the July 10th release of two new live recordings. Altitude (AUM073) documents the first-ever performance by the trio of guitarist Joe Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver during AUM Fidelity’s two-week run curating The Stone in New York last June. Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011 (AUM074) captures the European debut of saxophonist David S. Ware’s latest group, Planetary Unknown, featuring the all-star cast of pianist Cooper-Moore, bassist William Parker and drummer Muhammad Ali.

Collectively, Morris, Parker and Cleaver have appeared on hundreds of recordings, including a variety of prominent releases on AUM Fidelity, but this is their first time working together as a trio. Recorded by renowned jazz photographer (and, most recently, recording engineer) Jimmy Katz, the group’s inaugural performance on June 17th, 2011 featured two diverse sets of long form improvisation. The first, with Parker on bass, is captured in its entirety on Altitude‘s first two tracks. The second, featuring Parker playing a three-string lute known as a sintir or Guembri, is excerpted on tracks three and four.

“AUM Fidelity owner Steven Joerg and I first talked about making this recording about 14 years ago,” recalls Morris in the liner notes, “and the idea would come up in nearly every conversation we had after that. Other things happened but we never forgot about it. When John Zorn gave Steven two weeks of dates to curate at the Stone in New York City, this group was one of the first things he planned. We knew it would be unique and special.”

“It was hot in The Stone on this night,” Morris continues. “William, Gerald and I soaked through our clothes playing this music, but we didn’t let the heat stop us or even slow us down. We played the long form—soloing, complementing and juxtaposing parts in the most open context that exists in music. There was a great sense of cooperative engagement at play and we let that inform the content. The ideas poured out. Each of us responded to the others with a sincere attempt to honor every sound and every rhythm, and we enjoyed ourselves. We kept it simple and let it unfold naturally, listening for the discovery of melody, always comfortable on that tremendous platform of rhythm.”

Last year, AUM Fidelity introduced the world to a new free jazz supergroup called Planetary Unknown, a quartet of esteemed elder statesmen and master musicians whose experience creating influential spontaneous music spans the past 45 years. Its self-titled debut was included on best-of lists in a variety of publications and inspired critics to call it “gravity-defying” (Marcus O’Dair, Jazzwise), “breathtaking…staggering…mesmerizing” (Marc Medwin, The New York City Jazz Record), “a monumental meeting of the minds” (Ron Hart, JamBands.com), “the rare all-star session that’s more than than the sum of its parts” (Jeff Jackson, Jazziz) and “a tour de force of free improvisation from four masters of the form” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com).

“Each member of the group has spent decades developing a signature on his instrument and investigating all manner of folk and art music, and that depth of knowledge is clear on the developmental, shape-shifting nature of each piece,” writes the BBC’s Kevin Le Gendre. Culture Catch‘s Steve Holtje adds, “there is never any disjointedness or hesitation; these veterans organize their thoughts organically, instantly composing at speeds faster than thought. It’s an approach that carries great risks, but with players such as these, even greater rewards, and everything works to perfection throughout this album.”

In August, following the record’s release, and the band’s high-profile live debut at the Vision Festival, Planetary Unknown headed to Austria’s Jazzfestival Saalfelden, a highly regarded showcase for prominent creative improvisers from around the world for more than 30 years, for another special concert. That entire performance can be heard on Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011, which features three widely ranging tracks with Ware playing his trademark tenor saxophone exclusively. The resulting release is partly funded and made possible by the support of Zentrum Zeitgenössischer Musik and the 32nd International Jazzfestival Saalfelden©.

Learn more about AUM Fidelity, its recording artists and its other plans to celebrate its 15th anniversary, including a series of June concerts at Suoni Per Il Popolo in Montreal and the Vision Festival in Brooklyn, at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Today is the official street date for Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records), the second release from guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson‘s working quintet featuring Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), John Hébert (bass) and Ches Smith (drums).

“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…what a singular talent she is.”

Critics have described the record as “a tour de force for Halvorson…both distinctive and distinguished” (Stuart Broomer, The New York City Jazz Record), “masterfully played by all and refreshingly surprising” (Bill Meyer, The Wire) and “appealing tunes enlivened by arrangements that extract the best from the resources at her disposal” (John Sharpe, AllAboutJazz.com). Dusted‘s Jason Bivins adds, “Halvorson has been in the zone over the past couple years, but it’s hard not to hear Bending Bridges as a highpoint.”

Ms. Halvorson will play a series of supporting live dates over the next month, starting with a trio performance at Yoshi’s in Oakland on Thursday, May 10th. Her quintet will be at Buoy Gallery (Kittery, ME) on May 16th, The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville on May 17th, Firehouse 12 (New Haven, CT) on May 18th, Cornelia Street Café (New York, NY) on May 19th, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival (Burlington, VT) on June 7th and The Lily Pad (Cambridge, MA) on June 8th. She’ll also improvise with British musicians at Vortex Jazz Club in London as part of a two-night residency beginning May 24th.

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

Photo: Nick Lloyd

On Friday, June 8th at 8:30 p.m., Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson‘s acclaimed quintet, featuring Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto saxophone), John Hébert (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums), will make its Boston-area debut at The Lily Pad in Cambridge. The Brookline native, who won the Rising Star Guitar category in the most recent DownBeat Critics Poll and was named New York’s Best Guitarist 2011 by the Village Voice, will be in town celebrating her latest release, Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12 Records).

“One of the year’s most eagerly anticipated albums, the Mary Halvorson Quintet’s Bending Bridges has its work cut out for it topping the band’s 2010 poll favorite, Saturn Sings,” writes JazzTimes reviewer Lloyd Sachs. “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…what a singular talent she is.”

Critics have called her “a distinct voice of her own” (Carl Wilson, Slate), “one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz—or otherwise” (Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal) and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). The Philadelphia City Paper‘s Shaun Brady adds, “Halvorson has been steadily reshaping the sound of jazz guitar in recent years with her elastic, sometimes-fluid, sometimes-shredding, wholly unique style. Her compositions, shaped by a pop sensibility and unconstrained avant aggressiveness are ably explored by five of modern jazz’s young leading lights.”

One of the most in-demand guitarists in improvised music today, Ms. Halvorson works with such notable bandleaders as Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, fellow Boston-area native Taylor Ho Bynum, Curtis Hasselbring, Ingrid Laubrock and Marc Ribot when not leading her own groups, including her trio, septet and the newly formed Reverse Blue. She currently appears on the latest releases from Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone, The Thirteenth Assembly and the Tom Rainey Trio.

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

Photo: Peter Gannushkin

AUM Fidelity recording artist Darius Jones returns to New Haven’s Firehouse 12 tonight to celebrate the release of Book Of Mæ’bul (Another Kind Of Sunrise), the third verse in his ongoing Man’ish Boy epic. The critically acclaimed alto saxophonist/composer will perform two sets with his working quartet featuring pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Sean Conly and drummer Ches Smith.

Like the first two recordings in the series, 2009′s Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing) and last year’s Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), Book of Mæ’bul relates to a specific segment of what Jones calls the sonic tone poem of his life. This verse, which completes the epic’s back-story, is inspired by the many personal revelations he experienced in the years just before and just after he left home in 2005 to fully pursue his career as a musician in New York.

“Book of Mæ’bul (Another Kind Of Sunrise) is the incredibly thoughtful, powerful conclusion to a trilogy of recordings by Darius Jones,” writes DownBeat‘s Frank Alkyer. “He’s not just another young saxophonist out to blow the doors off the back of the club. He has a big, adventurous plan. He’s telling a story that’s long and involved, but gripping. It’s one of the best, most thought-out recordings I’ve heard this year, from the theme and the music to the packaging, which includes paintings created by graphic artist Randal Wilcox.”

Since launching his recording career in 2009 with “one of the great jazz debuts of the past decade” (Britt Robson, eMusic.com),  Jones has been called “a singular talent” (Brian Morton, Jazz Journal), “one of the most impressive and unique voices of our time” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com), “one of jazz’s most exciting practitioners” (John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald) and “a skilled composer, a hugely soulful saxophonist, and an assured leader” (François Couture, AllMusic.com).

Starting with this new release, Jones, who is profiled in the February issue of DownBeat, is building on a very fruitful 2011 that saw him play numerous gigs under his own name, launch a new intergenerational partnership with veteran pianist/composer Matthew Shipp, earn his second consecutive nomination for Up & Coming Artist of the Year at the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards and appear on best-of-the-year lists in a variety of publications, including a Top 20 finish for his latest, Big Gurl, in the prestigious Rhapsody Jazz Critics’ Poll.

Learn more about Darius Jones at http://dariusjonesmusic.com