Mary Halvorson

Bio

During the last 15 years, Mary Halvorson has emerged as one of music’s most prolific and distinctive guitarists. Though best known for the slicing sound of her hollow-body guitar and her improvisational acumen alongside some of jazz’s biggest names, Halvorson has more recently stepped into her own as a composer and bandleader. For the album CodeGirl, she wrote and arranged lyrics for the singer Amirtha Kidambi—a first for Halvorson. She plays in more than a dozen different bands, and her discography now stretches to nearly 100 different titles. At home in New York, Halvorson talked about how she maintains focus and energy when so many projects present so many different variables.