Guitarists Mary Halvorson and John Dieterich, long admirers of each other’s work, team up here for a record release performance of their debut duo album, A Tangle of Stars, out October 25 on New Amsterdam Records. Halvorson and Dieterich spent three days in John’s home studio in December of 2018 composing, arranging and recording all new music to create a personal collection of instrumental songs spanning experimental jazz, pop, rock, noise and improvisation. This performance will mark the live debut of this unique ensemble.
Mary Halvorson—guitar
John Dieterich—guitar
John Dieterich is a musician known largely for his work in the band Deerhoof, which he has been a member of since 1999. In that time, Deerhoof has released 13 critically acclaimed albums and toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. In addition, John has been a member of Gorge Trio, Endlings, Colossamite, Natural Dreamers, SWAPS, Powerdove, The Hand to Man Band, Dieterich & Barnes, Bad News from Houston and many other groups. He has also worked as a musician, producer, mixer, remixer and/or collaborator in any other number of other ways with artists including: Phew, Raven Chacon, Mary Halvorson, Xiu Xiu, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Sufjan Stevens, Chris Vatalaro, Lucas Santtana, Booker Stardrum, Officer!, Lonna Kelley, Mike Watt, Juana Molina, Kasai All Stars, Max Knause, Thor Harris, Half Japanese, Busdriver, James Jackson Toth, Powerdove, Claire Cronin and many others.
2019 MacArthur Genius guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson is best known for her longstanding trio, featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith, and more recently for her octet, as featured on her 2016 album Away With You. Her latest project as a bandleader is a quintet called Code Girl, for which she wrote music and lyrics, featuring Amirtha Kidambi (voice), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Michael Formanek (bass) & Tomas Fujiwara (drums). She is also part of several collaborative projects, most notably the longstanding trio Thumbscrew with Michael Formanek on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. Ms. Halvorson has also performed in bands led by Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Trevor Dunn, Tomas Fujiwara, Ingrid Laubrock, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot and John Zorn, among others.
