The Squid's Ear Magazine


Courvoisier / Halvorson: Searching For The Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic Records)

The second collaboration between pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson, six years after Crop Circles and a product of their tours together and the result of their both writing compositions specifically for their duo project, showing a level of communication that allows incredible inventiveness and moments of poignant exchange; exceptional.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Sylvie Courvoisier-piano

Mary Halvorson-guitar


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UPC: 020286236887

Label: Pyroclastic Records
Catalog ID: PR 17
Squidco Product Code: 31374

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Oktaven Audio, in Mount Vernon, New York, on June 2nd and 3rd, 2021, by Ron Saint Germain and Ryan Streber.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Displaying seriously brilliant musicianship, guitarist Mary Halvorson and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier are two singular voices united in a powerful duo to explore notions of time. The result of their collaboration is Searching For the Disappeared Hour, a record that reflects the colorful sounds and inventive textures that populate their minds.

Three of the twelve tracks are credited to the duo, including "Four-Point Interplay", where the prepared piano takes a percussive role and the ruminative guitar threatens to morph into indie rock behavior.

Albeit catchy, the cited tune can't be compared in terms of sonic pleasure with Halvorson's "Golden Proportion" and Courvoisier's "Lulu's Second Theorem". The former - a collage of vignettes with an Erik Satie feel - opens the record by enlacing classical and avant-jazz ambiances through dissonant, pitch-distorted guitar in strategic balance with the ebbs and flows of the piano; in turn, the latter song grooves with highly rhythmic ostinatos, odd-metered passages and expeditious melodic anatomies before shifting halfway to more reflective and abstract zones.

Two other Courvoisier compositions had an incredibly positive effect on me. One of them is "Moonbow", which, after being playfully set in motion, segues into a serene 4/4 pop progression whose textural base is alternately provided by each musician. After that, we have a more accelerated section where the guitar whoops with timbres that recall slot machines, video games and robotic language. The other song is "Mind Out of Time", a poignant, dark aural experience that seems to want to unravel secrets in the depths of our souls. By the end, compelling unison lines are briefly incorporated without losing a bit of the texture.

Halvorson penned "Bent Yellow", a bluesy plunge that feels bold in the interaction, angular in the theme and resolute in the proceedings, as well as "Gates & Passes", a sad, shimmering ballad sunk in a myriad of interesting effects.

The guitar playing and pianism of these amazing musicians are so rich and satisfying that the album catches our senses with striking assurance."-Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Get additional information at Jazz Trail

Artist Biographies

"Sylvie Courvoisier is a pianist, composer and improviser. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Courvoisier moved to New York in 1998 and has lived in Brooklyn since that time.

Courvoisier has led several groups over the years and has recorded over 25 records as a leader or co-leader for different labels, notably ECM , Tzadik and Intakt Records and 30 cds as a sideperson. She has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Yusef Lateef, Ikue Mori, Tony Oxley, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Joëlle Léandre, Herb Robertson, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Lotte Anker, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Tomazs Stanko among others. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. Since 1996, she has been touring widely with her own groups and as a side person in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe.

Currently, Courvoisier is the leader of her TRIO with Kenny Wollesen and Drew Gress. She performs regularly Solo and since 1997, in Duo with violinist Mark Feldman. She co-leads the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet with Scott Colley and Billy Mintz. Since 2000, she has been a member of Mephista, an improvising collective trio with Ikue Mori and Susie Ibarra. She is currently playing and touring in different projects of John Zorn including Cobra and Masada Marathon. She is also playing in Erik Friedlander's Trio, Herb Robertson's Quintet and Nate Wooley's Quartet. Since 2010, she has been working as a pianist and composer for flamenco dancer Israel Galvan's project "la Curva" with more than 150 performances around the world.

Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes créateurs; Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Création; Switzerland's 2010 Grand Prix de la Fondation Vaudoise de la Culture; 2013's NYFA (NewYork Foundation For the Art) Music/Sound Fellowship."

-Sylvie Courvoisier Website (http://www.sylviecourvoisier.com/bio.htm)
7/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"One of improvised music's most in-demand guitarists, Mary Halvorson has been active in New York since 2002, following jazz studies at Wesleyan University and the New School. Critics have called her "a singular talent" (Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes), "NYC's least-predictable improviser" (Howard Mandel, City Arts), "one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz-or otherwise" (Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal), and "one of today's most formidable bandleaders" (Francis Davis, Village Voice). The Philadelphia City Paper's Shaun Brady adds, "Halvorson has been steadily reshaping the sound of jazz guitar in recent years with her elastic, sometimes-fluid, sometimes-shredding, wholly unique style."

After three years of study with visionary composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, Ms. Halvorson became an active member of several of his bands, including his trio, septet and 12+1tet. To date, she appears on six of Mr. Braxton's recordings. Ms. Halvorson has also performed alongside iconic guitarist Marc Ribot, in his bands Sun Ship and The Young Philadelphians, and with the bassist Trevor Dunn in his Trio-Convulsant. Over the past decade she has worked with such diverse bandleaders as Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, Ingrid Laubrock, Myra Melford, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey and Mike Reed.

As a bandleader and composer, one of Ms. Halvorson's primary outlets is her longstanding trio, featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith. Since their 2008 debut album, Dragon's Head, the band has been recognized as a rising star jazz band by Downbeat Magazine for five consecutive years. Ms. Halvorson's quintet, which adds trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon to the trio, has released two critically acclaimed albums on the Firehouse 12 label: Saturn Sings and Bending Bridges. Most recently she has added two additional band members-tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trombonist Jacob Garchik-to form a septet, featured on her 2013 release Illusionary Sea. Ms. Halvorson also co-leads a longstanding chamber-jazz duo with violist Jessica Pavone, the avant-rock band People and the collective ensembles Thumbscrew and Secret Keeper."

-Mary Halvorson Website (http://www.maryhalvorson.com/bio/)
7/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Golden Proportion 2:54

2. Lulu's Second Theorem 6:17

3. Faceless Smears 5:18

4. Four-Point Play 3:17

5. Moonbow 5:54

6. Torrential 6:59

7. Mind Out of Time 4:55

8. Party Dress 3:15

9. Bent Yellow 4:48

10. The Disappearing Hour 6:00

11. Gates And Passes 6:04

12. Blizzard Rings 3:46

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Duo Recordings
Piano & Keyboards
Guitarists, &c.
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Top Sellers for 2022 by Customer Sales
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions

Search for other titles on the label:
Pyroclastic Records.


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