New Music From Mary Halvorson

Nonesuch Records will release About Ghosts by Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Mary Halvorson on June 13, 2025. The album features eight new compositions by Halvorson, performed with her sextet Amaryllis, the improvisatory band that also was featured on her critically praised albums Amaryllis, Belladonna, and Cloudward. Amaryllis comprises Halvorson, Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet). Saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles join the ensemble on five tunes. Halvorson’s last three records were named Jazz Album of the Year in DownBeat’s annual Critics Poll, where she was also named Guitarist of the Year in 2023 and 2024.

“I started writing this record in the fall of 2023, for Amaryllis, and I thought, ‘You know what? I want to add more saxophones.’ And I just started writing,” Halvorson says. “It felt like an experiment. I was just feeling … denser harmony, more horns. But I wanted to stick with Amaryllis, so it felt natural to add a couple of saxophones to Amaryllis rather than doing an entirely new thing; I’d been playing so much at that point with Amaryllis and we were in a really good place. 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.” Advance tracks “Amaranthine” and “Carved From” are at radio now.

“Mary Halvorson’s guitar contains within it a microcosm of her entire practice as a composer and bandleader.” —Pitchfork

“Halvorson’s fusions of written and spontaneous music reach an entrancing new seamlessness and seductive warmth.” — The Guardian

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Label: Nonesuch Records

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