{"id":3374,"date":"2021-10-24T23:21:33","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T04:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2021-11-02T08:28:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T13:28:35","slug":"courvoisier-halvorson-disappeared-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/courvoisier-halvorson-disappeared-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Melding of Worlds: A Conversation with Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past two and a half decades, pianist-composer Sylvie Courvoisier has established a formidable career in combining concepts from European chamber music and avant-garde jazz. In the process, she has collaborated with such other luminaries as John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, Ken Vandermark, and Mary Halvorson. Like Courvoisier, guitarist-composer Halvorson has a distinctive voice on her instrument, as her music is shaped by not only avant-garde jazz but a diverse palette that includes flamenco, noise, rock, and psychedelia. Since studying with Anthony Braxton, she has developed herself as a powerful force in creative music, even earning a MacArthur “Genius” Grant for music in 2019. Courvoisier and Halvorson released their first duo recording, Crop Circles<\/em> (Relative Pitch, 2017) to much critical acclaim. As one writer noted, that album is “a sublime collection of shapes and figures, one that is alternately awe-inspiring and inscrutable … [that is] irrefutable proof… of the creative prowess of these two musical heavyweights.”<\/a> Yet, their follow-up, Searching for the Disappeared Hour <\/em>(Pyroclastic, 2021), is more realized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time spent by the two examining their strengths, weaknesses, and methods of communication produces an album that is mesmerizing. While Crop Circles<\/em> reshaped other tunes to fit the occasion, Searching for the Disappeared Hour<\/em> was written by both artists specifically for the duo, allowing it to make unique use of both instruments’ timbres and colors. It is unlike anything else in either artists’ impressive discographies. We sat down with both Courvoisier and Halvorson to discuss their compositional and recording processes and the piano-guitar duo format more generally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PostGenre:<\/strong> When did you two first meet and, since it may be a different answer, do you remember when you first encountered each other\u2019s music? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sylvie Courvoisier:<\/strong> I heard Mary for the first time in a small club in Brooklyn many years ago when she was super young, maybe in her early 20s; she already had a pretty strong musical identity, I was impressed. We have also been in the same social circles for several years. Our first performance together was at the Cornelia Street Caf\u00e9, but I can\u2019t remember exactly which year. It was about four or five years ago.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mary Halvorson<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been a fan of Sylvie\u2019s music for a long time and, as she said, we are kind of in the same scene. So, I had heard her play many times by the time we got together to play. I think the first time we hung out was at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival [Saalfelden, Austria] around 2010. For some reason, that sticks out in my mind as the first time I met Sylvie and hung out with her. We started playing together probably about a year before our first duet record [Crop Circles<\/em>] came out. I\u2019ve always been very bad at dating things, but that sounds about right.   <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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