Mary Halvorson Trio

As a guitarist, composer and improviser, Mary Halvorson is first among equals. She doesn't like structures, as these hinder her freedom. It's even said that she's not keen on the guitar, though the opposite is true. She plays long, spun-out solos and combines artful time signatures and melodies with noise and trash rock. Moreover, she has a unique way of using all the available effect devices, which results in a terrific range of riffs, melodies and raw chords. All the while in the background is a vague, but agreeable, folk-like tone. Halvorson's playing is like a sudoku puzzle, with everything falling perfectly into the right boxes, albeit it's not at all easy to work out how she does it. The turbulent Ches Smith - heard in Ribot's 'Ceramic Dog', among others - is hewn from the same wood: a wilful and original genius of percussion. With his warm and super-swinging bass lines, John Hébert forges his colleagues' musically extreme escapades into a monument of balanced contrasts. It may be time to add a bust of Halvorson to the Mount Rushmore of the guitar, next to those of such other illustrious guitarists as Bailey, Frith, Ribot and Otomo.