Amaryllis
One of a pair of strong 2022 releases, Mary Halvorson’s *Amaryllis* finds her in a sextet lineup with Patricia Brennan’s vibraphone as the primary harmonic instrument and tone color. As a brass section and as individual soloists, trombonist Jacob Garchik and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill are superb in every respect. Bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Tomas Fujiwara achieve an ideal balance of driving, funky rhythm and sensitive support. On the latter half of the album, Halvorson adds the adventurous strings of the Mivos Quartet, offering a glimpse of the sounds she’s able to summon with Mivos on the full-length companion release, *Belladonna*. The breadth, detail, and sheer character of her writing on these releases is a marvel, attesting to her prodigious growth as an artist in this period.
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The release of two contrasting albums demonstrate how far this inventive, singleminded guitarist has come, and offers a glimpse of a dazzling future