Mary Halvorson
Artist, Group & Guitarist of the Year
By Michael J. West
The first time Mary Halvorson won a DownBeat Critics Poll category, taking Guitarist of the Year for 2017 and three rising star categories, she was seen as something of dark horse. It’s safe to say her star has risen. Halvorson marks her 10th consecutive time winning Guitarist of the Year, as well as the critics’ choice for Artist of the Year and Group of the Year for her Amaryllis sextet (comprising trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Tomas Fujiwara). In other words, Halvorson is on a roll!
By Frank Alkyer
By Jim Macnie
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By Suzanne Lorge
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By Phillip Lutz
Editor’s Note: In tribute to the passing of Sonny Rollins, here’s his first Blindfold Test with Leonard Feather, the creator of the feature, from our Dec. 12, 1957 issue.
There is a very personal significance in Sonny Rollins’ comments below on records No. 5 (“It’s very important to have a sound that you can recognize immediately”) and 9 (“These people have no identity of their own and I can’t name them”).
The significance lies in Sonny’s having been able, during the past year or two, to practice what he preaches. More than any other tenor player of the younger generation, he has succeeded in developing a sound and style that can be called original rather than derivative.
Sonny has been important in another area of jazz development. He has played a part in the murder of the myth that jazz and the waltz are incompatible. In addition to writing Valse Hot and other attractive 3/4 themes, he took part in an entire album of jazz waltzes recently with Max Roach on EmArcy.
Sonny was given no information at all about the records played for him—not even the fact that they were all going to be waltzes. He was a very conscientious blindfoldee, taking copious notes and reading off his comments into the tape recorder after each number was played.
