Illegal Crowns - Illegal Crowns

Illegal Crowns

Illegal Crowns

Rogue Art

Mary Halvorson: guitar
Tomas Fujiwara: drums
Benoît Delbecq: piano, prepared piano
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, flugelhorn

One of the best albums I’ve heard this year. Illegal Crowns has great writing from all the players, and brings to mind the subtle magic and mystery of Miles’ Second Quintet, even though it’s very different in terms of its language and approach.

Mary Halvorson Octet - Away With You

Mary Halvorson Octet

Away With You

Firehouse 12 Records

Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet
Jon Irabagon - alto saxophone
Ingrid Laubrock - tenor saxophone
Jacob Garchik - trombone
Mary Halvorson - guitar

Susan Alcorn - pedal steel guitar
John Hébert - bass
Ches Smith - drums

Just got through listening to Mary Halvorson’s amazing new album with her Octet, Away With You (Because of the letterspacing on the cover, at first I thought the title was A Way With You, which is a nice play on words if you think about it!) This recording hit me so hard that I had to come out of my blog retirement to comment on it.

No real dominant voice, everything is very well-balanced throughout, and it’s the ensemble sound that you notice. One unique quality to the arrangements is Susan Alcorn’s pedal steel, an instrument I generally steer clear of even though I was born in the South. Here, however, it blends remarkably well with the woodwinds and brass, as well as Ms. Halvorson’s guitar.

Away With You builds on Ms. Halvorson’s work on her previous Firehouse 12 group recording, Illusionary Sea; in fact, it’s the same group with the addition of Ms. Alcorn. Listening to Away With You brought to mind Michael Formanek’s The Distance, not in the specific sound but in the way each offers a fresh take on arranging for larger groups of instruments.

This is brilliant stuff. It releases on October 28, but you can pre-order at Firehouse 12’s Bandcamp page.