The celebrated Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and 2019 MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson and her sextet, Amaryllis, return to Roulette on a nationwide tour in support of their recent release, About Ghosts (Nonesuch, 2025). Dramatic and daringly intricate, the eight-song work is Halvorson’s fourth record with Amaryllis, featuring Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums)—plus saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles on a few pieces for octet.

Halvorson wrote some of the music for the core group in 2023, and then, following what she describes as a snap impulse, experimented with a piece for four horns instead of two, just to try it. “I guess I do that a lot…Take something that already feels good and then add an element, kind of throw a wrench in it, and see what happens.”

The wrenches fly throughout About Ghosts. The previous three Amaryllis projects—(Cloudward (2024), Amaryllis (2022) and Belladonna (2022)—all also produced and mixed by Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, were each named Jazz Album of the Year in DownBeat magazine’s Critic’s Poll. (Halvorson has twice been recognized as Jazz Guitarist of the Year in the poll, in 2023 and 2024.)

This new work is Halvorson’s most compositionally intricate—alive with splashy Day-Glo chords, tricky hocketing ensemble passages, subtle and disruptive metric shifts, and moods that blossom and then evaporate in less than a minute. The music is made even bigger by the intuition and synergy of this group of musicians, developed from years of playing and performing together.

Mary Halvorson guitar
Adam O’Farrill trumpet
Jacob Garchik trombone
Patricia Brennan vibraphone
Nick Dunston bass
Tomas Fujiwara drums

“Mary Halvorson is the most future-seeking guitarist working right now” -NPR

“No one is making music like this.” -JazzTimes

A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.

Guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson has been described as “a singular talent” (Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes), ”NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “one of the most original jazz guitarists of our time” (Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily), and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). In recent Downbeat Critics Polls Halvorson has been celebrated as guitarist, rising star jazz artist, and rising star composer of the year, and in 2019 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

One of New York City’s most in-demand guitarists, over the past two decades Halvorson has worked with such diverse musicians as Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, John Dieterich, Trevor Dunn, Bill Frisell, Ingrid Laubrock, Myra Melford, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Jessica Pavone, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith and John Zorn. She is also part of several collaborative projects, most notably the longstanding trio Thumbscrew with Michael Formanek on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums.