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Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts review – restless beauty from jazz’s shape-shifting guitarist
The Brooklyn boundary-pusher’s expanded ensemble returns with a kaleidoscopic blend of angular rhythms, intricate melodies and thrilling improvisations
The lineup retains Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums), augmented by Blue Note Records’ fiery, gospelly alto-sax star Immanuel Wilkins and the rugged, Wayne Shorter-like tenorist Brian Settles. Carved From starts to canter and chime after a soft, unaccompanied arrival in rich horn chords, and features driving improv from Halvorson and Wilkins, mixing crisply defined guitar figures and skidding elisions with flat-out, whooping alto-sax firestorms. This year sees the 50th anniversary of Keith Jarrett ’s legendary Köln Concert, and New Vienna (ECM), a 2016 gig from the now 80-year-old’s final solo tour, is a familiar but bewitching hour of hurtling free squalls, chugging-hook rockers and tender romances.
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