Mary Halvorson

Mary Halvorson is an American guitarist and composer widely regarded as one of the most original voices on her instrument in contemporary jazz. Born in 1980 in Brookline, Massachusetts, she came to the guitar after hearing Jimi Hendrix and studied at Wesleyan University, where the composer Anthony Braxton became a key mentor. She leads a range of acclaimed groups, plays in the cooperative trio Thumbscrew, and collaborates widely across the creative music scene, from Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot to Sylvie Courvoisier and Ingrid Laubrock. A MacArthur Fellow, she has repeatedly topped critics polls as guitarist and composer of the year.