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Mary Halvorson remained busy during the pandemic year, releasing a new album with her group Code Girl, as well as with the trio Thumbscrew.
(Photo: James Wang)Since her debut on record about 15 years ago, guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson has stood out. A fierce experimentalist who’s consistently pushed the boundaries of her own sound, and that of avant-garde jazz, the Brooklyn-based Halvorson has become one of New York’s most sought-after and beloved musical voices.
This year was a significant one for Halvorson. Not only did she celebrate her 40th birthday, but she also released two fresh albums: October’s Artlessly Falling, her second Code Girl record, but first lyric and poetry-focused album; and July’s The Anthony Braxton Project with the trio Thumbscrew, a tribute to the legendary composer who inspired Halvorson to become a professional musician.
In November, DownBeat had the chance to chat with the guitarist about her weighty new releases, which nod to the her biggest influences, Trump-era politics and the lessons she’s learned during her latest turn around the sun.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
With the political landscape in mind, I wanted to start by chatting about the song, “Last-Minute Smears,” on your newest Code Girl album, Artlessly Falling. Tell me a little bit about the process of writing that song?
I wrote that song in 2018, [during Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing]. I was so disgusted, but I couldn’t turn the TV off. I started writing down phrases that he said in my notebook. I just arranged his words into a poem form. Then, I thought to give the song a regretful quality that was entirely absent from his testimony. It’s a little snapshot of what was happening in the world with the #MeToo movement ramping up during the Trump Era.
It’s so weird, too, because the Supreme Court has come back into the spotlight in a really intense way between Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying and then Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment, and just [recently] Kavanaugh was back in the news amplifying Trump’s notions of election fraud. It almost gave the song, to me, a renewed sense of life.
Wilson’s ability to connect to audiences helped her to win two Grammy awards and multiple other accolades. She was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2022.
Sep 3, 2026 10:44 AM
Cassandra Wilson, a singer, songwriter and producer who was one of the most acclaimed and successful jazz vocalists of…
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